Ludgershall Vs Haddenham United
Sheffield Jackman Cup Final
11th April 2011
Haddenham faced Ludgershall in the final of the Sheffield Jackman Cup under floodlights at Tring Athletic Stadium on Monday night. With plenty of support and a full squad to choose from Haddenham arrived at the stadium on the Wycombe Wanderers team bus full of optimism for the match ahead.
Whether it was nerves or just their by now customary slow start Haddenham was under pressure straight from the kickoff. Ludgershall used the downhill slope combined with some long balls to good effect forcing three corners in the first five minutes.
The opening 20 minutes were littered with free kicks given away by Haddenham as the defence and midfield struggled to cope with Ludgershall’s bright start. However despite having the better of the play they failed to create any clear cut openings and gradually Haddenham started to get their passing game together.
The movement of Rowley and Goy up front started to cause problems and with Rea and the outstanding Leathers getting a grip on the midfield things began to look better for Haddenham as they pushed Ludgershall back.
Even with the improvement Ludgershall still looked dangerous and their first real chance of the game brought an outstanding save from keeper Morris.
A long ball down their right was crossed into the box. Satchi tried to clear with a header but instead directed the ball towards the top left hand corner of his own net. Fortunately Morris was alert to the danger (he’s played behind Satchi for a while now!) and dived acrobatically to his right to tip the ball round the post.
The balance of play was shifting in Haddenham’s favour, with Richard Surman on the right in particular causing them real concern with his direct runs, and starting to draw fouls on a regular basis as his marker tried to contain him.
With just over half an hour gone Haddenham had their first clear chance to open the scoring. Wardy broke up an attack with a good strong challenge clearing the ball to Alan ‘Squidly’ Lewis. Making ground quickly he passed to Leathers inside him who in turn found Rowley on just outside the right hand side of box.
Controlling the ball instantly he ran at the defence, feinting to cut inside before shifting to the right and creating space to shoot. He hit the ball well and just as it seemed destined to nestle in the bottom left corner of the goal the Ludgershall keeper made a brilliant save, diving full length to fingertip the ball round the post.
Scott Bryson took the resulting corner, delivering a pinpoint cross to Wardy who narrowly missed with his looping header back across the goal.
The game was now following a definite pattern with Ludgershall using the booming clearances of their number three as their main method of attack and Haddenham looking to break quickly once the aerial bombardment and been dealt with.
With half time approaching Haddenham were applying pressure to get the goal that their play over the last 15 minutes deserved and it seemed it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough came.
And so it proved, though not the breakthrough that Haddenham had hoped for. With Ludgershall pressing down their right hand side Satchi gave a free kick away on the right edge of the box. Up stepped Ludgershall’s leading goal scorer to curl the ball superbly over the wall and into the goal and give them a 1 -0 lead, which remained the score at halftime.
The second half started as the first had finished. Haddenham had control and were pushing Ludgershall back, pinning them in their own half for long periods.
The danger as they pushed forward was always going to be the long ball over the top but the defensive quartet of Wardy, Satchi, Scott Bryson and Gav White in particular dealt with everything that came their way.
With their control at the back, Rea now winning everything in the air and, with Leathers, dominating the midfield Haddenham had the freedom to press further forward in support of the strikers and the chances started to come.
Rowley could have had two during the early stages of the half with one volley on the turn bringing out another stunning save for the Ludgershall keeper who was proving to be their man of the match.
Half way through the second half and another Haddenham attack was broken up by the resolute Ludgershall defence. This time the ball fell to Leathers just outside the box.
With quick feet that would be the envy of Michael Flatley warming up for dual with Adam Garcia, he evaded two tackles, cutting into the left hand edge of the box before drilling his shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
There was clear relief that the keeper had at last been beaten and it was no more than the team, and for his performance Leathers in particular deserved.
Now it was game on as Haddenham went in search of the winner.
Ludgershall were being restricted to long balls and couldn’t find a way to release the pressure as their clearances kept coming back. On occasion Haddenham would over commit and the long ball looked dangerous with so many players pushing on.
Unfortunately for Ludgershall Gav White, whose motto for the night seemed to be “THOU SHALT NOT PASS”, was waiting for just such an eventuality. Covering the back line brilliantly he executed a number of perfectly timed, meaty tackles that weren’t for the faint hearted!
Ludgershall weren’t finished yet and gave Haddenham a reminder that they couldn’t afford to let up for a moment. A break down the Ludgershall right fell to their substitute who delivered an excellent shot with the outside of his foot that arrowed towards the top corner of the net. Keeper Morris was equal to the challenge, diving to his right to palm the ball to safety.
Ludgershall were looking tired and with just over 20 minutes to go Haddenham replaced Alan Lewis with Matt ‘Barry’ Tatum. Already struggling to clear their lines the introduction of Barry’s pace and direct running had an immediate impact on the game.
Both Tatum and Surman were working the wings well and delivering quality balls into dangerous areas giving little respite to Ludgershall’s hard working defence.
A diagonal ball into space on the left gave Tatum another opportunity to run at the defence. He took, on and beat, his man before crossing into the box. Rowley pounced on the ball, finishing well to beat the keeper to score the winning goal that his all round play really deserved.
Haddenham had a number of chances to increase the score, with Rea missing a good opportunity at the end of a flowing move and Tatum narrowly missing with an excellent free kick from just outside the right hand side of the box.
The last few minutes of the game were punctuated by fouls as Ludgershall, who were out on their feet, looked to break up the rhythm of the game.
With just over 90 minutes played the referee blew the whistle and the cup was Haddenham’s!
This was a terrific game for the neutral with both teams playing their part. Ludgershall had a great run to the final knocking out division one promotion hopefuls Britannia and Bedgrove Utd on the way and it was easy to see tonight that those results weren’t flukes.
A quick mention for the match officials. The performance of officials are often only commented on in a negative way highlighting bad decisions and performances so it's good to be able to note a good all round performance from the group in charge of this final. Letting the game flow as much as possible and taking into account the pressure of the game they did as much as anyone to help make this an enjoyable game. Well done!
This was Haddenham’s best all round performance for quite a while, with the result coming from a superb squad performance where everyone on and off the pitch, including the supporters, played their part.
Read Ludgershall's report here and the ADL report here. Pictures from the final (courtesy of Mark Witney) can be found here.