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1st May
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Silver Street Volkswagen Taunton Saturday League Thursday 1st May 2008 Somerset Intermediate Cup Final The TDSFL have a great record in this competition with sides from our League winning it six times in the last ten years. Civil Service were our representatives this year up against Bath Arsenal who had scored 37 goals in the six rounds leading up to the final. Civil themselves had hit 26 but impressively only conceded 6 goals so it looked like being a good contest. The game was played at Shepton Mallet on a good surface but the slope running end to end can have an effect. In the opening minutes Civil going down the hill were camped in Bath's half but it was on eight minutes when Bath broke away and scored a goal totally against the run of play. Civil continued to have the majority of the possession in the remainder of the half but failed to convert any of their chances. In the second period the game became a more even affair in terms of possession but neither keeper was really tested. Civil had a potential match winner up front in Spyridon Siakoufis (Spyros) but without the ball he couldn't provide the elusive equaliser. Bath were very well organised at the back and very hard to break down. Something had to change with the clock running down so player/coach Robbie Allan brought on the experienced Phil Painter and went three up front. There can't have been many Intermediate Cup Finals where a father and son both played as was the case with Phil and the ever impressive George last night. No sooner had Phil got on the pitch when Bath doubled their advantage with just ten minutes to go. The last few minutes Civil showed much more urgency inspired by their competitive skipper Marcus Gauntlet but it wasn't going to happen. In fact things got much worse with just three minutes to go when a Bath player was lying on the floor, Phil Painter was about to step over him to get the ball when the player rolled over and as a consequence instead of stepping over him Phil stepped on him. The referee having consulted his linesman deemed it as an intentional act, which it clearly wasn't, and brandished the red card in Phil's direction. That about summed up Civil's night. Seward Cup Final Whatever happened tonight in the final between Woolavington Predators and Watchet Town Reserves we were going to get a new name on the trophy. The first half was stale mate with neither side breaking the deadlock. Five minutes into the second period Matt Washer opened the scoring for Predators, that inspired Watchet to push harder and they benefited half way through the half with an equaliser from Nick Dymock. Five minutes later the referee awarded Watchet with a penalty and up stepped their keeper Martin Ketchen to convert the spot kick and give Watchet the lead at 2v1. Despite Predators efforts to get back on level terms the clock beat them and Watchet raised the cup.
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