Tuesday 1 May, 2007
Thamesmead Town Res. 2 Deal Town Res. 1
By reporter Kevin White

A Steve Diamond brace gained Thamesmead Town reserves the Division 1/2 Cup by beating Deal Town 2-1 in a well contested cup final.

The final at Lordswood sprung in to life just after two minutes when Steve Diamond picked the ball up in space on the right hand edge of the Deal penalty area. With time to look up and pick his spot, Diamond drilled an unstoppable shot in the top right corner of the goal to put Mead 1-0 up.

Thamesmead continued to have the lions share of the possession and nearly doubled their lead on the half hour mark when a good run down the wing from Dawson resulted in a low cross which was struck well in the middle of the six yard box by Sugden, only for Phipps in the Deal goal to dive and make a good point blank save.

Again before half time, Mead come close to scoring. Sugden played a great ball out to the right wing for Diamond to run on to and cross to the near post where Dawson headed just over.

Two minutes in to the second half and Deal were dealt with a cruel blow as Austen fell awkwardly and had to be replaced after 5 minutes worth of treatment which required his shoulder to be strapped.

On 67 minutes, Deal equalised against the run of play. Sam Mills failed of catch a simple cross, which dropped to his feet and was pounced on by Calvin Davies to stab the ball in to the back of the net for the equaliser.

With both sides pushing for the winner, the game became fiercely contested in midfield and on 80 minutes, Deal’s Ben Leberl was lucky to stay on the field after receiving a caution for a nasty two footed challenge on Gallagher.

88 minutes on the clock and with extra time looming, Thamesmead broke forward on the right wing with Diamond looking to cross from deep. The resulting cross come shot looped and swung over Phipps in to the far corner of the net to send all of the Mead players running to the bench in celebration.

Deal piled forward in injury time, but Thamesmead remained resolute at the back to gain their first silverware of the season. "The boy's deserve it, they've worked hard all season," said assistant manager Ryan George. "We've not had the rub of the green over the last couple of weeks, but everything turned in our favour tonight and we created more than enough chances."

The ressies will be looking for trophy glory again on Saturday week in the Kent Intermediate Cup, once again against Deal Town.

Line up: Mills, Lewis, May, Barrett, Upson, McQuaid, Diamond (Brown 86), Sugden, Dawson, Batt, Gallagher. Subs not used: Simmonds, Morgan, Bond, O’Keefe.