Ambleside Utd finished a memorable season by winning the Mason and Freeman Cup by beating Ullswater Utd 2 – 1 at Kirkby Lonsdale last night. A large crowd including many of past Ambleside players were entertained by a hard fought match between 2 good teams.

Ullswater Utd took the lead early in the match when joint top league scorer Tom Graham scored giving them a 1- 0 lead.

Ambleside Utd created chances in the 1st half but were unable to get an equaliser.

Throughout the 2nd half Ambleside Utd were clearly the better team though Ullswater were always dangerous.

The equaliser came midway through the 2nd half with a great strike from Alex Jackson ( joint league top scorer ) and a great solo goal from James Bowen saw Ambleside Utd take a 2 - 1 lead. The goal sparking joyous celebration from the players and supporters.

In the remaining minutes Ullswater Utd pressuried the Ambleside defence but they held firm.

Hard to name MOM as all the squad contributed but was impressed by young keeper Baxter Oliver who joined the Club recently .

The league season started well with the team winning their first 4 matches followed by mixed results winning 3 but losing 5 of the next 8 matches. A great finish to the season saw the team win their last 6 league matches including beating League winners Kirkoswald Res on their own patch and winning 3 cup matches so to finish runners up in the league losing out to Kirkoswald Res by 1 point and winning the Mason and Freeman Cup.

Alex Jackson with 25 goals and James Bowen with 14 goals both bettered last seasons tally.

Players availability for matches has been its best for a long time so the team were able to have a regular squad of about 16 players to choose from most weeks. The number of young players in the squad plus the experienced players made it a well balanced side.

Congratulations to manager Graham Routledge who has worked tirelessly both with the squad and with the pitch preparation giving us surely one of the best playing surfaces in the league and to Chairman Dan Nevinson who also has done a tremendous amount of work for the Club and not forgetting all the Clubs sponsors , The Lily Bar , Beetham and Dean , The Inn Collection Group.