Some Reward…

…To close out a difficult season.

Yesterday evening in an event that would result in my returning home in the small hours of today, Wingate & Finchley faced Ramsgate in the final of the Velocity Trophy – The League Cup for members of the Isthmian League. We had scrapped our way here. We twice faced highly motivated lower division sides – Walthamstow where we needed to get through on penalties and our reserve keeper, Feargal, showed his quality…

Then we played local rivals Cheshunt, winning 4-1 on the night…

Then we had a tight match against old enemies Kingstonian who are now fighting relegation in a lower division…

…Another match that went to penalties after a 3-3 draw in normal time.

Finally we faced Redbridge and our regular Keeper, Charlie, was badly hurt resulting in him hobbling around his area for much of the match. If it went to penalties we would have been sunk but fortunately we contrived to get a brilliant individual goal by Remy-Lee Bennison in the dying minutes. No photo of that one – It was at the opposite end of the pitch and the lights were awful!

Thus we found ourselves in the Velocity Trophy Final vs Ramsgate who’d played Isthmian Premier opposition in two of their rounds and passed through without any hiccups as well as seeing off lower division opposition. On no occasion had their matches gone to a penalty shootout. In the league, Wingate were perhaps showing marginally better recent form but to quote a Ramsgate fan I heard behind me while waiting in the queue to get a beer – ‘We’re gonna beat these shite easy…’ Proud words born out of a poor attitude and illustrative of a total lack of class by some Ramsgate fans that was also exhibited after the game.

And so we met in the Cup Final… A dour affair that was fought with grit and determination by both sets of players. My impression of the match is that Ramsgate had much the better of the first half putting us under immense pressure and scoring a goal that was disallowed for foul play. One of their fans let off a pyrotechnic in celebration – a bad show given that carrying such items is against the rules and also somewhat embarrassing in the circumstances!

The second half was more even with both keepers being required to show their abilities and I believe Wingate edged it on chances. As the half wore on I began to get the impression that the Rams players were tiring more quickly than ours. Their chances grew fewer and ours came more often. Even so, the game would reach the end of normal time with a 0-0 scoreline.

In the final, a draw results in the match going to Extra Time… So off we went! The first 15 minutes were uneventful with neither side looking like breaking the deadlock. Turn around… We go again…

In the second half of Extra Time, Wingate just seemed to have that extra bit of energy and mounted more attacks. Ultimately the pressure told when the ball dropped between Alex Solomon and Afi Adebayo. Afi span and Alex gave him space to go. Here’s the sequence to the goal…

…Roof of the net!!!

The Celebrations were immediate…

…But there were still around 12 minutes to play including time for injuries. We held on and completed a win of the Trophy for the second time.

With match complete our skipper Billy was proud to shake the fans hands…

…And got to hold the cup aloft…

I made a point of commiserating with the Ramsgate keeper – Not even the great Gordon Banks was saving that one! Meanwhile a small section of Ramsgate fans decided that booing our players getting their medals was ok behaviour after we had applauded theirs… Total Lack of Class!

Interesting follow up development to yesterday – Ramsgate’s Manager was sacked today because ‘the playing budget was significantly underspent.‘ It does leave you wondering what the attitude is at some clubs! Our Chairman would probably be giving the manager a medal for underspending and achieving what their manager has done for them this season🤣