The 41st Stockingford AA Charity Cup Final.
Sunday 9 May 2010 at Stockingford AA Pavilion, Nuneaton.
Coventry Rangers…………0
Ridge Lane………………...3
By Iain Green.
RAMPANT RIDGE LANE lifted the Stockingford AA Charity Cup for the first time since 1992 as striker Lee Smith inspired the villagers to a
3-0 success against Coventry Rangers in a one-sided Final.
Lane never looked back after man-of-the-match Smith had fired them ahead from the spot when front-man Matt Brown had been clipped inside the area, while Liam Bailey and then Brown himself ensured they erased the memory of their 2006 Final defeat at the hands of Sunnyside.
In a tight opening period it was Rangers who began the brighter of the two sides with Tom Annett clipping an effort over the crossbar from Gaz Lawson’s flick-on, before Lane gradually found their stride with Brown dragging his shot just wide after turning John Kilby inside out.
Brown then came close to opening the scoring when his dink over the stranded Karl Roach was somehow hooked off the line by the back-pedalling Alton Ramage, before Brown finally prised open the Rangers defence with a superb jinking run that forced Kilby to clip his heels just as he was set to pull the trigger.
And Smith kept his composure to send Roach the wrong way to give Ridge Lane the initiative in the 41st Final.
Buoyed by the goal, Lane laid siege to the Rangers goal, with Smith and Christian Mullins both testing the impressive Roach, while Bailey also had an effort well-saved by the Rangers custodian.
But Roach could do little to prevent Bailey doubling Lane’s advantage two minutes before the interval when Darryl Greenway’s set-piece squirmed through to Bailey at the back-post, and the midfielder made no mistake with a clinical half-volley that flew into the bottom corner.
Lane continued their dominance after the break, with Brown going close with a rising drive, before neat interplay between Smith and Nathan Thompson allowed the latter a strike on goal, but he could only fire wide as he bore down on Roach.
A smart move involving Ivor Green and Bailey then led to Brown glancing a header narrowly wide of Roach’s upright as Lane sought to kill the tie off, while Slinn’s rising drive was beaten away by Roach moments later.
But Lane found the third ten minutes from time when Bailey’s sublime lofted pass dropped agonisingly over the head of Kilby, and Brown raced clear to power a low shot past Roach and into the rigging.
“We played well and deserved the win,” said Lane gaffer Steven Barnes. “We kept faith with the 3-5-2 system as we feel it works well for us, and we demonstrated how well it suits us with this display.”
“To be fair, I felt we were always in control of the game, and never looked like losing, and I’m pleased to have got the job done. It was a real team effort, and I’m hopeful we can take this win into the Tribune Cup Final on Sunday.”
Coventry Rangers: Roach, Keith, Ramage, Lawson, Dee, Kilby, Phillips, Watts,
PGreen, Annett, Blair.
Subs: Jones, Garrett, Cranfield, Thompson, Thomas.
Ridge Lane: Barnes, C Bailey, Olanipekun, L Bailey, Mullins, McEwan, Slinn, Brown, Smith, Greenway, Thompson.
Subs: Willett, I Green, Chapman, Sellick, A Green.
Referee: Mr A Stickley (Coventry)
The Teams line up before to kick off