Report

The rain that had been falling for what seemed like weeks finally stopped and the sun shone brightly on the 100 or so supporters of Lewin Sports and New Life who gathered to watch the 2012 Mike King Trophy final at Stanhope Grove.  And they were treated to a pulsating game of exciting end-to-end football which was played in an excellent spirit.

The start of the game was delayed slightly due to the presence of an ambulance on the pitch tending to the referee of the preceding match who had collapsed right at the very end of the game.  Everyone at New Life and, I’m sure, Lewin prays for Martin Purser’s complete and speedy recovery.

It was newly crowned 1^st Division Champions Lewin who settled into their rhythm more quickly and the pace of Gary Napier and Francis Johnson-Beke was causing the New Life defence some problems which lead to several corners.  One of these was met by a powerful header, which Tom Conquest did well to touch onto the crossbar and over for yet another corner.

However, Tom could do nothing to prevent Lewin taking the lead around the 20^th minute when a diagonal cross reached their striker at the corner of the penalty box, and he drove his low shot in off the far post.

New Life showed glimpses of getting back into the game but, generally, had difficulty in supporting striker Elliott Stevens with their usual4-5-1formation.  A change was needed in order to exploit Lewin’s unconvincing defence and, sure enough, manager Chris James (who, unfortunately, was unable to play due to illness) made the tactical decision to bring on Rubin Alibaj for Selom Sunu and switch to4-4-2.

As a result, New Life started positively in the second half and began to exert more pressure on the Lewin back four.  This gave the midfielders more room to play in, and the creativity of Richard and Alli Smith, and pace and strength of Bradley Day and Tony Slade started to show.  A difficult chance fell to skipper Jon Bryars who couldn’t make contact only 3 yards out, but eventually the pressure told around the 55^th minute when Richard Smith pounced on a loose ball in the area and the goalkeeper failed to keep his shot out at the near post. 

Apart from the occasional breakaway, Lewin rarely threatened during the rest of the 2^nd half but, equally, New Life’s attack was also blunted when Elliott Stevens was injured and was replaced by centre half Jake Burgess.  This lead to a major re-shuffle of the team and New Life were unable to prevent the game going into extra time.

With 10 minutes of extra time gone, New Life were awarded a free kick and Rubin Alibaj whipped a fast flat cross to the far post.  Richard Smith’s header back into the near post was unstoppable and New Life were now playing with some confidence.

Early in the second half of extra time, a surging run from midfield by Richard Smith lead to a flurry of chances and several shots were blocked until the ball fell back to Richard who completed his hat-trick by smashing it in from 6 yards.

As Lewin pressed forward to try to get back into the game, they left gaps at the back.  An astute pass out of defence by Simon James found Rubin Alibaj on the half way line and his excellent cross field pass found Andy Dutton who side stepped the keeper before lashing a shot in off the crossbar and far post.

With only 5 minutes remaining and a 3 goal advantage New Life lost concentration for a moment and, to their immense credit, Lewin took advantage to drag the score back to 4 – 2.  This shocked New Life and caused them to focus for the final few minutes and see the game out for an unprecedented third Mike King trophy victory in succession.

Many thanks to referee Mike Laxton and his assistants Mark Edwards and Graham Ray for their excellent officiating, but it has to be said that the players gave them very few problems.  The game was played in an excellent spirit and was a credit to the Bromley and Croydon Christian League.  Thanks too to JDG Athletic FC who run Stanhope Grove and presented the ground in beautiful condition (helped by the rain I mentioned earlier) and plenty of refreshments for the hungry supporters. 

Finally, thanks to Keith Bolton, Dave Lock, Graham Russell and the other members of the League Management Committee for running an excellent tournament.  Keith conducted the presentation of the trophies to the match officials, the Man of the Match (Andy Dutton – making the author a surprised but very pleased Dad), Lewin and the winners - New Life.  A great end to another good season.  Congratulations Chris and Jon!

Photos

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