A full squad set off to Sutton United's ground for the Minor Cup final with Wake Green Amateurs. Having played against them earlier in the season and coming away with a 2-2 draw, it was obvious we would have a battle on our hands.

Once we arrived and settled in the changing room, a welcome posse of the three amigos, Millard, Shackell and Phillips gave us a boost with their best wishes and good luck shouts.  A new addition to the line up was Old Wulfs legend Dave Pointon, ready for action in his number 60 shirt but unfortunately or fortunately depending on who's team you were on there would be no room in the squad for the chairman of the board.

From the warm up and a quick glance at the opposition meant it was easy to see how they would come at us.  A big centre forward looking to win the headers and drop the ball into the path of the other forward to run on to.  Two markers and a sweeping player was the only option against this so with Gary Griffiths and Matt Williams doing the marking and Phil Gardner the covering we would try and settle things down.

From the start Wakes tried their tactic of getting the ball forward quickly in the air, but as we planned they didn't get much joy apart from a couple of chances that ran through to big Dave Scorer in the Wulfs goal.  The out ball for Wulfs started to cause Wakes big problems as big Dave would throw the ball out wide quickly to either Danny Patrick or Pav Khosla who would then roll it on to Minty Postance or Simon Stewart from the block.  This tactic was working well when the ball finally stopped bobbling about on a very rough surface.  The Wakes defence was having nightmares handling the pace of Simon and the constant deafening abuse that Minty was giving everybody who didn't pass to him.  An angry forward was not something that they were not finding it easy playing against so much so that a couple of cards may have easily come out as both players were getting hacked at.

The best chance of the half came to Stewart after a Hoddle type pass or a Dimmack type clearance from Phil Gardner fell lovely in front of him, he raced towards the keeper, got round him but just pushed the ball wide.  For the last twenty minutes of the half Wulfs were the better team and maybe deserved to go in a goal up but a nice rest in the shade and a bit of a talk from Dave Griffiths was very welcome.

Conceding goals from set pieces has been a bit of a problem in recent weeks so the plan was not to give any stupid free kicks away around the box.  Six or seven in the first half and a few in the first twenty minutes of the second were the only way Wakes were going to score.  Luckily big Dave's fist dealt with most things launched in his direction, a word of advice for Dave Griff, I wouldn't try to sack or drop him if that's how hard he punches the ball.  Postance broke down the left after diving in and winning a loose ball, cutting inside it looked to everyone that Minty would add to his seasons tally of 12 but the post stopped a low hard shot.

An ongoing battle for Jim Lawton and Paul Fothergill in the midfield against the tallest man on the pitch was also where Wulfs were on top.  How Jim was beating a man of about 7ft to every header is a mystery to the hundreds watching.

The Wand, Gareth Lawton lined up a free kick with fifteen minutes left on the clock, anywhere in the corridor of uncertainty was where he aimed.  With a Wakes defender missing his clearance and the keeper flapping, the celebrations started as the ball went straight in the back of the net.  A bit of defending was required as Wakes sent on some new forwards but Wulfs slowed the game by making some substitutions of their own. Bhupesh Patel got a nice welcome from the Wakes defender who had caused them both to be sent off in the previous game, not much to worry about though as he couldn't catch a cold let alone a fresh streetwise forward like Patel.  Adam Campbell was bought on for Minty to finish of the tired out Wakes defence with ten left on the clock.  Wulfs held firm and celebrated the first trophy of the season for the club and the first time in 25 years the minor cup had been bought back to the Memorial Ground.

Big thanks from everyone in the third XI to the people who came to watch and good luck to the firsts and second in their upcoming finals.

Man of the match Dave Scorer.

Thanks to James Sutton, Adam Campbell and Bhupesh for your parts in an excellent day.

Final score: Old Wulfrunians 1  Wake Green Amateurs 0.