The Cherry Red Records Challenge Cup
Final
Shortwood United 1 Yate Town 3
Saturday, 10 May 2003
The finale to the season was the League Challenge Cup Final which was played at Oaklands Park, Almondsbury, watched by a crowd of 485. Between Gloucestershire rivals Shortwood United, who have had an indifferent season, and Yate Town, who were notified on Thursday that they will be playing in the ?Dr Martens League? next season following promotion as Premier Division runners-up.
Yate started their last match in the Hellenic League and controlled the first 10 minutes with ease. The Shortwood attack finally got into the game in the 14th minute when Craig Cole dribbled past the Yate defence and the ball ran to Richard Evans who crossed for Mike Green to score with a flying header. Yate came back at Shortwood and missed 3 good chances before equalising on the stroke of half-time when Ross Casey sliced a shot that Dave Bright got on the end of and diverted the ball past a surprised Shortwood defence.
Half Time: 1-1
Shortwood had the better possession early in the 2nd half but failed to penetrate the Yate defence. A volley from Evans just cleared the Yate crossbar and this acted as a wake-up call. Yate pushed forward with determination and a Dave Elsey volley was kicked off the line. This constant pressure produced a goal in the 80th minute when Leon Simpson set up Elsey and he volleyed home off the post to put Yate in front. With 3 minutes left to play Yate sealed the victory when Simpson broke away from the half-way line and crossed for Kevin Coles to tap in.
Despite their best endeavours Shortwood were unable to match Yate?s perseverance on the day.
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