On a lovely sunny day, the tangerine army took to the field to take on the reigning champions of the Alan Dimmer Trophy.
Pre-match there was a charitable donation made from Ashby Athletic after their match fees were doubled, a classy touch from the opposition and much appreciated. We also took on a minutes applause this one was to mark that passing of the Littlemore brothers Sister and for all the mums who have lost a baby to mark mothers day.

The game kicked off and it was Ashby who started the game quicker and forced the game on us, but they came up against a resolute sands defence who kept them at bay. The relentless pressure early doors started to calm down and Sands started to create some attacking moments themselves but couldn't find the killer ball.

Around the 20 minute mark a defensive clearance looked to be going for a corner, Barker who is slower than a tortoise riding a snail managed to stop the ball from going out, maybe out of the amazement of this he didn’t deliver his clearance as well as he could, instead giving the ball back to the opposition on the left-hand touchline just inside the sands half. It fell to the player who probably had the best shot in the Ashby team and he tried a cheeky shot from distance which a backpedalling Barker managed to save but the ball fell to their striker whose shot looked for all the world to have been tipped over by Barker went agonisingly under the crossbar and in. 1-0 Ashby

As usual, the sands men don’t know when they are beaten, as within a few minutes Hatcher Jr impressing on his debut was fouled in the Ashby half. Up stepped Allen whose free kick went over the wall and into the middle of the goal, luckily for him, the keeper had his magic vanishing gloves on and the ball found its way into the back of the net. 1-1

From there on in the game was closely competed with both teams cancelling each other out.
With 2 minutes to go until half time a long ball over the top had Barker running out again to clear, his kick was high but got no distance, Ashby then won a header which resulted in some defensive confusion and ultimately led to a penalty, their striker made no mistake and smashed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. 2-1 a sucker punch right before half time.

In the second half, the boys woke up from their first-half slumber as they dominated proceedings for the majority of the second half. For all the possession Sands had Ashby defended resolutely leaving us without much joy from open play. However, set plays were always a danger as Allen hit the bar at one point and was denied by a good diving save from the keeper not long after.

Sands were hungry with big Chris dominating the midfield now and Best dribbling at the opposition more, Ashby were well and truly on the back foot. With 6 minutes to go an attack down the left-hand side ended up with a throw-in, Best warmed up the guns (the third biggest in the club, he’d say the biggest) He launched the ball in to the box and up rose Hatcher jr who headed the ball into the back of the net. The crowd went wild running on to the pitch including papa bear Hatcher who ambled on nearly as slow as Barker to congratulate his boy on his first goal in men's football aged just 16.

That took the game to penalties and a real chance to knock out the holders.

First up Ashby, Goal finish in the right-hand side.

Littlemore was up next, his penalty was soft and easy for their keeper to save.

Ashby scored again

Then captain Allen stepped up, the set piece king forgot he was only 12 yards out took aim like he was taking a free kick and skyed the ball over the bar, where it was last seen in an image taken by NASA’s Mars curiosity robot.
Ashby scored again.

Best gave a little hope with a nicely taken pen, but the dream was dashed as Ashby scored their 4th.
Game over and so was the cup run. But we done well vs the holders in our first season together.

Sands United

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