Centenary Cup

In 2009 North Berks Football league celebrated its centenary year.  One of the events run as part of the centenary celebrations was the Centenary Cup.  This competition was run along the lines of the 1st ever season, with 30 clubs split into the 4 original areas of Wantage, Wallingford, Abingdon and Faringdon.  The quarter finals of the competition were effectively the old regional area finals.  The final itself was held at Abingdon Town F.C. controlled by a local Football League, Graham Scott.  In front of a crowd of over 200.  Faringdon Town triumphed in a closely fought final (report below).

Centenary Cup Final (28th October, 2009)
(At Abingdon Town FC)

Faringdon Town 2 Saxton Rovers 1

(Phil Annets, NBFL Media Relations Officer)

Injured Soane Wins Cup for Faringdon

Peter Soane played through the pain of an injured shoulder to score the winning goal as Faringdon Town came from behind in the North Berks League Centenary Cup final against Saxton Rovers.

On a perfect evening for football these top two unbeaten NBFL Division One teams provided an entertaining showpiece to the League’s centenary celebrations. The opening 20 minutes were quite cagey with both teams sussing each other out, but it was Saxton who were creating the most chances. Soon after their first real shot in anger came the incident that would result in the recurrence of an old injury for Peter Soane as he clashed with the Saxton keeper Darren Spayes. Both players required treatment, but both were able to carry on.

Within five minutes of this clash Saxton Rovers took the lead when a deflected shot by Adam Greenaway fell to his team-mate Garry Hartley who calmly placed the ball past the outstretched Faringdon keeper from six yards. This goal seemed to stir Faringdon into life and five minutes later they were level. The excellent Soane collected the ball on the right hand wing and placed a perfect cross onto the head of Derren Harrington who headed into an empty net.

Bizarrely, the most significant event happened on 35 minutes just after Soane had hit a 20 yard shot straight at the Saxton keeper. Still feeling the effects of his injury he turned to the bench to request to be substituted, but Faringdon's manager Simon Harrington decided to reject his plea. And within five minutes of the re-start his decision was justified as Soane latched onto a cross-cum-shot by Derren Harrington to score from close range.

Saxton Rovers upped their game to try to get back on level terms, but apart from one glorious opportunity in the 71st minute when the Faringdon keeper Chris Webb made a point blank save, they didn't really make any clear cut chances. An injury time free kick for Saxton was fired against the wall and Faringdon held on to win the cup, presented to their captain Gary Sutton by Chris Ledger from Allsports Trophies, who kindly donated the excellent trophy.


The competition layout and results were:



Centenary Cup

         
 Final      
28/10/2009 Saxton Rovers
1 - 2
Faringdon Town Scott, Graham
         
         
 Semi Final      
15/10/2009 Didcot Casuals
0 - 3
Saxton Rovers Addison, Les
15/10/2009 Faringdon Town
1 - 0
Long Wittenham Athletic Long, Geoff
         
         
 Quarter Final      
03/10/2009 Hanney United
0 - 1
Didcot Casuals Brown, Ian
03/10/2009 Long Wittenham Athletic
1 - 0
Crowmarsh Gifford Axten, Roger
03/10/2009 Marcham
0 - 1
Saxton Rovers Clarke, Keith
10/10/2009 Stanford-in-the-Vale
0 - 3
Faringdon Town Pitson, Trevor
         
         
 Round 2      
01/09/2009 AFC Wallingford
1 - 2
Long Wittenham Athletic  
01/09/2009 Benson Lions
1 - 5
Crowmarsh Gifford  
01/09/2009 Botley United
1 - 1
Marcham  
(Marcham win 3-1 on pens)
01/09/2009 Faringdon Town
2 - 0
Bampton Town  
01/09/2009 Hanney United
1 - 0
Harwell Village  
01/09/2009 Stanford-in-the-Vale
1 - 0
Childrey United  
01/09/2009 Sutton Courtenay
0 - 4
Saxton Rovers  
02/09/2009 Didcot Casuals
3 - 0
Harwell International  
         
         
 Round 1      
25/08/2009 Appleton Stars
2 - 9
Sutton Courtenay Winsor, Gary
25/08/2009 Bye v Hanney United  
25/08/2009 Benson AFC
1 - 2
AFC Wallingford  
25/08/2009 Benson Lions
1 - 0
Blewbury  
25/08/2009 Botley United
2 - 2
Wootton & Dry Sandford Edwards, Max
(Botley United win 5-4 on pens)
25/08/2009 Childrey United
5 - 1
Challow United Paddock, Leroy
25/08/2009 Coleshill United
0 - 8
Faringdon Town Harrison, Ben
25/08/2009 Didcot Casuals
2 - 1
East Hendred Addison, Les
25/08/2009 Drayton
1 - 3
Saxton Rovers Clarke, Keith
25/08/2009 Kintbury Res
1 - 2
Harwell International Bullock, Mark
25/08/2009 Lambourn Sports
2 - 2
Harwell Village McIntosh, Alex
(Harwell Village win 5-3 on pens)
25/08/2009 Long Wittenham Athletic
10 - 1
Warborough & Shillingford Nichol, James
25/08/2009 Marcham
2 - 1
Steventon Brown, Ian
25/08/2009 Stanford-in-the-Vale
5 - 2
Shrivenham A Pitson, Trevor
25/08/2009 Uffington United
2 - 4
Bampton Town Williamson, Doug
26/08/2009 Hagbourne United
0 - 8
Crowmarsh Gifford Taylor, David