Trojans' cup final feast
Somerset Trojans 4
Two superbly taken goals from the boot of Stephen Astwood and additional strikes from Rodre (Piper) Wilson and Sean Simmons sent the Friendship Trophy on its way west for the ninth time overall — but for the first time since 1989.
Trojans’ lopsided win equalled PHC Zebras’ record for the most wins in the competition, and yesterday’s triumph over Cougars was the widest margin of victory in the Friendship Trophy final history.
It was also Trojans’ biggest win over Cougars in a cup final since 1979 when the West Enders beat their city rivals by the same score in the FA Cup.
Like an army platoon laying in ambush, Trojans caught their unsuspecting rivals off guard early and never once looked back.
“The key to winning cup finals is to jump on your opponent early and put them on the back foot,” explained Trojans coach Dennis Brown.
“We’ve given Cougars a difficult time all season because we are very physical. And I thought today that our aggressiveness took them out of their comfort zone while the guys played very well.”
Cougars’ assistant coach Gary (Tuba) Mallory admitted afterwards that his team were outgunned on this occasion.
“They definitely wanted it more,” Mallory lamented. “Our guys were not up to par today, although they still battled to the end. But my congratulations go out to Somerset.”
Almost from the kick-off one sensed that Somerset wanted this trophy more than Cougars as they quickly had their opponents on the defensive.
And before Cougars could even get a proper feel of the ball or their surroundings they found themselves trailing as Astwood rattled the roof of the net with a thunderbolt from the top of the box in the fourth minute.
But Trojans weren’t done as Wilson headed home a Dion Stovell cross to place the city team further in arrears 15 minutes later.
Having grasped the early upper hand, Trojans continued to probe in search of more goals and were unlucky not to have added to their tally before the half.
Cougars tried to dust themselves off and regroup, but they never really found the momentum needed to bend Trojans out of shape. A fierce left-footed volley from the boot of Jeremy DeShield that was easily saved by Timmy Figureido proved to be the closest Cougars came to scoring during the entire 90 minutes as Trojans put up the shutters.
It didn’t take long for the West Enders to stretch their lead after the half. In fact, it only took them three minutes to be precise as Simmons finished off a give-and-go with Astwood on the right-side by delicately heading past Ricardo Brangman in the Cougars’ goal.
And with victory all but in the bag, it was only fitting that the forceful Astwood capped off an inspiring performance with a superb solo effort that added insult to injury. The veteran forward glided past an exposed Cougars’ defence and slipped the ball by a flat-footed Brangman to put the finishing touches to Trojans’ memorable afternoon.
Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, D.Cox, J.Butterfield, I.Mallory, K.Bean (K.Goddard, 68 mins), J.DeShield, K.Steede (capt), L.Brangman (K.Tucker, 55 mins), C.Caisey, M.Smith (S.Minors, 63 mins), R.ch
Somerset Trojans<$>: T.Figureido, M.Butterfield, J.Tucker (S.Riley, 60 mins), M.Wade, D.Minors, J.Scott (capt), S.Astwood, S.Simmons, J.Butterfield (A.Lambert, 57 mins), D.Stovell (C.Frick, 65 mins), R.Wilson.
Yellow c: C.Frick (Somerset)
Men of the match<$>: K.Bean (Cougars); S.Astwood (Somerset)
Referee: Anthony Mouchette
