SUBSIDIARY CUP FINAL PREVIEW
CORSHAM OUT TO CAUSE CUP FINAL UPSET
The Gooding Accounts Stadium, home of Wiltshire Premier Shield winners Westbury United will this Sunday afternoon play hosts to the Shoestrings-Chargrill sponsored Chippenham & Bath Football League and in particular supporters of both Corsham Rovers and Griffin FC who will hopefully flock to Meadow Lane to witness the F.W. Jones & Son Funeral Directors sponsored Subsidiary Cup Final.
Both teams had to overcome the odds to set up what promises to be a thrilling finale to the first ever campaign of the newly named league after the merger of the Chippenham & Bath League’s, the former for which it will be their 57th season since it was founded in 1966 and for the latter it would have been their 52nd year, having been formed in 1971.
From the 16 teams that started out in March, we arrive at the final two and it would be fair to say that thanks to their greater experience First Division, Griffin FC who suffered defeat in the last ever Bath League Cup Final when they were beaten by FC Trinity in the Secretary’s Cup will start the game as favourites. Third Division, Corsham Rovers maybe underdogs, but with a number promising youngsters in their squad they will have a great chance of upsetting the odds, especially as their semi-final victory was against FC Trinity.
This will be the climax to a season for Corsham Rovers who entered the league just a few days before the affiliation deadline for the 2022/23 campaign.
The peacock badge symbolises not only the colourful residents you can find around Corsham but the rich heritage of the Phasianidae birds who gad about the town from Corsham Court.
Rovers were founded by Luke Thomson & Callum Race who, after several years out of the game decided it was time to dust the cobwebs off their boots and resume their playing careers.
However, with the signing of some great players, the pair quickly found themselves demoted to manager and bench warmer respectively.
It has been a mixed bag of results in Rovers’ debut season but a late season good run of form has led to them finding their way to the final showpiece of the season which they are of course, incredibly proud of.
Their run to the final was and entertaining one. Their first-round match was against Third division rivals Trowbridge Athletic were two 3-2 victories earned them an aggregate 6-4 success. Aron Byfield scored 3, Elliott Haffenden bagged 2 on his debut for the club and a Ciaran Taylor first leg effort made up the half dozen.
Next up for Corsham was a quarter-final tie against Second division, Forest Renegades who they blew away 5-0, Elliott Haffenden who will miss the final was the star of the show with a 4-timer, Sam Young capped the 5-star showing.
Up against First division FC Trinity in the semi-final, Corsham’s cup escapade was expected to come to end, but once again they defied the odds as after 90 minutes had ended goalless they won a penalty shoot-out 4-3, Morgan Akerman, Aaron Byfield, Mahir Islam and Ciaran Taylor all holding their nerve to score from the spot to set up a final meeting with Griffin FC.
The Griffin FC were first formed in 2006 and started off in the Frome & District League before moving to the Bath & District league at the start of the 2010’s.
Although regularly playing some scintillating football they are yet to claim any silverware in their relatively short history.
The team has now evolved from its initial roots and is predominantly filled with players based in the Bath area. In their most recent years they have managed the unbelievable feat of 3 back-to-back promotions without ever finishing higher than 4th in any league they found themselves in.
As all current teams, Griffin can now call themselves a founder club of the Chippenham & Bath League and there has been a bit of acclimatising due to the long away trips and different pitches but they certainly grew in confidence as the season went on and this is vilified by their appearance in this final after overcoming the highly fancied newly crowned Premier Division champions Scoop FC in the semi-final.
Of their 16 league matches to date they have lost half of those but being unable to turn draws into wins has been their biggest challenge so the cup competitions have given the club the wins to keep the confidence flowing.
Griffin are no strangers to cup finals as last year they reached the last ever Secretary’s Cup Final, their first as a club, one which they narrowly lost in the dying minutes to FC Trinity in an end to end encounter at Twerton Park.
However, after gaining some valuable experience and bedding in this season the appointment of their new Head of Recruitment who is and will be tapping in to the local university 5-a-side leagues, the future is looking rosy for Las Naranja’s.
Griffin’s route to Meadow Lane began with an 8-4 aggregate triumph in their two legged affair with top flight Lansdown FC. Matt Pawley’s brace in each game gave him a total of 4 goals, Howard Dennis, Max Western, Louis Bollard and an own goal made up the 8.
On paper, Griffin’s quarter-final tie away Third division, Biddestone Athletic should have been a walk in the park, however they had to work a lot harder than expected to get a 3-2 success. Steve Connor, Mason Farrington and David Walton scoring the goals that set up a semi-final meeting with cup favourites Scoop.
Against Scoop, Griffin set up with a game plan and it worked brilliantly as the soon to be crowned Premier Division champions were sent packing after losing a penalty shoot-out 5-3 after 90 minutes had ended 1 apiece. Matt Pawley was on target for Griffin in the game and he also scored from the spot, along with Louis Bollard, Sam Gimbert, David Walton and Max Western to cause one of the shocks of the season.
The final kicks-off at 2.00pm and although Griffin FC will be favourites to fly off with the trophy, it won’t be a give me as Corsham Rovers will be looking to cause a cup upset for a third successive round, and add Griffin to the scalps of Forest Renegades and FC Trinity.
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