It was a cold and wet night at Stafford Rangers’ Marston Road ground; however that did not spoil an entertaining evening of football between the two Midland Football League Division 1 sides.  With Heath Hayes having taken a 4 v 2 victory in the league two weeks earlier on Easter Monday, Lichfield City were keen to avenge their loss and lift the trophy on their second attempt in two seasons.

The Heath Hayes side were originally knocked out in the Quarter Final Round of the competition, however were reinstated after Wolverhampton Sporting Community were found guilty of playing an ineligible player. They took full advantage of their reprieve with a 3-0 Semi Final victory, and they were first to strike in the Final when Dimitri Dunkley drilled the ball into the bottom corner with 30 minutes on the clock.

Lichfield City looked to fight back and threatened the Heath Hayes goal on a number of occasions ahead of the half time interval, however could not equal the scores and they went into half time 1-0 down.

The second half got off to a lively start when Heath Hayes captain Jack Arrowsmith doubled his side’s lead on 49 minutes with a glancing header following Joe Pickering’s well placed free kick.  

Within 2 minutes of the restart, Heath Hayes added a third goal to their tally when Jack Partridge found space and fired his shot into the top corner from over 30 yards out.

The sides battled in through the torrential weather conditions, and it was Joe Pickering who finished the scoring on 83 minutes when he fired home into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area to round off a 4 v 0 victory and see Heath Hayes go on to lift the trophy.

We would like to extend our thanks to Stafford Rangers FC for our use of their excellent facilities and for the 437 in attendance that will surely have enjoyed an exciting game.

We return to County Cup Final action throughout this month with the following finals:

Tuesday 12 April 2016
County Youth Challenge Cup Final
Brocton Youth v Uttoxeter Town Youth
@ Rocester FC (7.30pm kick off)
Admission: £3.00 / £1.00

Thursday 14 April 2016
Sunday Challenge Cup Final
Belt Road v Dr Johnson
@ Rushall Olympic FC (7.30pm kick off)
Admission: £3.00 / £1.00

Monday 18 April 2016
Mid week Floodlit Youth Cup Final
Bilston Town v Stourbridge
@ Stafford Rangers FC (7.30pm kick off)
Admission: £4.00 / £2.00

Tuesday 19 April 2016
County Youth U15's Sunday Cup Final
Betley Youth v Hednesford Town YDS
@ Eccleshall FC (7.00pm kick off)
Admission: £3.00 / £1.00

Wednesday 27 April 2016
Senior Cup Final
Kidsgrove Athletic v Rushall Olympic
@ Port Vale FC (7.45pm kick off)
Admission: £8.00 / £4.00

For more information regarding any of our County Cup competitions please contact Connor Jukes on any of the following:
(E): connor.jukes@staffordshirefa.com
(T): 01785 256994