Highworth Win Bluefin Trophy in Style

On a cool and damp Bank Holiday Monday in front of a crowd of 306, Highworth Town played Binfield for the.....

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Published 8th May 2012

....second time in as many weeks for the Uhlsport Hellenic League`s Blue Fin Insurance Brokers Challenge Cup and the game itself started off with both sides gauging each other.

However, the Worthians had the ascendency in the early exchanges and after 12 minutes, an error at the back allowed Rory Sproule to latch onto the ball and he knocked it into Matt Bennett who squeezed his shot under the Moles’ keeper from a very tight angle to put them in front.

Highworth had opportunities to add to the score as the half progressed but the Moles should have done better when a slip by Craig Curtis allowed Ian Davies to run at the Worthian defence and he slid the ball into the path of Johnny Dyer, who shot wide of the post when perhaps he should have at least hit the target.

Highworth then attacked and Sproule had a shot which was deflected over the bar. The Moles then shot themselves in the foot when an innocuous challenge saw Craig Curtis and Dyer come together on the floor but the Moles’ forward gave the referee no option but to red-card him after he was seen to lash out at the prone Highworth player.

Highworth now tried to capitalise on the extra man and Bennett, whose pace caused the Moles’ defence problems all afternoon, slipped the ball into the path of Dan Hilder but his shot was well saved by Dan Weait.

Soon after, Tony Joyce had a great shot which was defected over the bar after hitting an unsuspecting Bennett and as the half went into added time, Steve Yeardley hit the ball over the Moles’ defence from the left for Joyce to hammer goalwards which Weait did well to save, however the loose ball was picked up by Joyce and he made certain of Highworth’s second when he hit in the rebound.

Binfield started off the second half with a lot more determination but although they were able to get into the final third, nothing was going right for them. In fact Kurtis Sharkey only had one shot to save.

Sproule went off with a dead leg and was replaced by Josh Parsons, whose first contribution to the game was a great piece of control in the Binfield six-yard box and a tremendous shot which was well saved by Weait.

Shortly after, a surging run by Bennett culminated in an excellent pass to Parsons, who controlled the ball with a magic piece of skill and finished with an unstoppable shot for the Worthians’ third.

Dan Wallington joined the fray shortly afterwards and he made his mark very quickly with a superb ball into Bennett but again the shot was saved from close range by Weait.

The best bit of football of the afternoon saw a great interchange between Parsons and Wallington which finished with a cross to the far post for Matty Horsell to volley into the roof of the net from six yards for the fourth.

With 10 minutes left on the clock Steve Yeardley was upended in the box by Dave Fenton and Wallington stepped up to take the penalty but yet again, Weait brought off a great save only to see Yeardley react the quickest and knock the ball into an empty net for the Worthians’ fifth.

Shortly before the end Wallington surged forward from the halfway line and struck a tremendous shot which was deflected over the head of the Moles’ keeper to round off a thoroughly miserable afternoon for Binfield but a massively impressive one for Highworth to win their first Hellenic silverware since their league title success seven years ago.