FA NATIONAL LEAGUE SYSTEM CUP FINAL

Although neither the Sussex County League nor any of the seven feeder leagues in Sussex entered this new national inter-league competition for Level Four (Intermediate) leagues the experience of the competing players and spectators who attended the inaugural final held at the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge showed that this competition is a worthy addition to the calendar.

The match itself was exciting throughout and deserved more than the two goals scored although this reflects very well on the performances of the keepers, Alan Sutton and Richie Mottram of Mid Cheshire. Sportsmanship was excellent overall with only a single incident requiring the close attention of the referee.

Mid Cheshire needed just 80 seconds to open their account as two home defenders were found wanting by the pace of the game and the pitch and Man of the Match CHRIS GAHGAN headed home from 12 yards. A stunning 28-yard drive by Lee Pennington that was superbly tipped over the bar by Sutton was the highlight of an exciting but well balanced first half.

Both sides continued in attacking vein after the resumption with the strikers keeping defences under pressure and the keepers very busy. A feature was the number of accurate and well weighted passes from various midfielders that provided their strike partners the chance to run at goal. That his side did not score was no discredit to Cambridgeshire's hard working and very skilful centre forward Richard Chadwick.

Any doubts about the outcome were settled after 87 minutes thanks to the brilliant individual skills shown by KEVIN TOWEY as he shook off his marker and beat Sutton on his near post with a fine shot from an acute angle. Despite the intervening goalless 85 minutes this was a cracking match.