Throgmorton Champions Cup Final 2019

Exwick Villa 1-0 Park United

Sunday 4^th August 2019

Played at Newton Abbot Spurs F.C

Exwick Villa and Park United met at The Rec, the home of Newton Abbot Spurs F.C on Sunday afternoon. The game was played at Newton Abbot Spurs due to the redevelopment of the Coach Road pitch, with the new 3G due to be laid shortly.

The consensus of opinion was it should be a close match, and as it turned out this was absolutely correct. The weather was cloudy with the possibility of rain a constant threat, but it was also very humid and muggy and the players would need a drinks break at the referees discretion.

Referee Matthew Arthur got the game under way with Exwick which mounting the first attack on ninety seconds winning a corner which Park defended soundly, Exwick continued their early pressure as Park conceded another corner kick finally cleared by the defence.

In the 13^th minute, United’s keeper, Tyler Yarde minute conceded a penalty. Villa’s Mark Saunders placed the ball on the spot calmly took three paces towards the ball and stroked the ball past a helpless Yarde to open the scoring.

Park stood resilient for the next ten minutes until they won a free kick twenty yards out a superbly floated ball into the box was well defended by the United defence.  United had a rare attack in the 34^th minute when breaking down the right and some nifty footwork by John Downing resulted in an excellent cross which the Villa defence managed to clear down field releasing the pressure. Park were putting on some good pressure in response to going 1-0 down, but the Exwick defence was standing strong.

The fourth official showed that there were to be two minutes of added time but the was no further scoring so Exwick Villa finished the first half leading 1-0 courtesy of Saunders’ early penalty. Villa definitely had the better of the first half with United hoping that they would be able to turn things around in the second.

Park United got the second half under way but for the first fifteen minutes it was just a midfield battle with neither team really creating any chances. From then on United started to have the majority of the possession and looked the team who could exploit their attacking prowess and take advantage and equalise the score.

United started to break on the counter attack trying to catch Villa’s defence on the wrong foot but were failing to find the decisive final ball that could lead to the equalising goal. In the 79^th minute United won a free kick twenty-five yards from goal wide on the left wing Kai Dymond crossed a dangerous free kick across the face of the Exwick goal, but unfortunately no United striker could find the final touch. As Park searched for an equaliser, Exwick poured forward and with 5 minutes to go they were denied a second goal which would surely have sealed the game, Yarde pulling off a superb save down to his right to keep the scores at 1-0.

4 minutes additional time was signalled by the 4^th official but Park United couldn’t find a way through the brilliant Exwick Villa defence, as Villa were victorious, 1-0.

Man of the Match – Louis Jagger-Cane (Exwick Villa)