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Horsham FC play Littlehampton Town FC in the Sussex Chalenge Cup Final at the AMEX Stadium |
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One last outing to the AMEX this season for the Sussex Senior Cup🏆 . It’s the Hornets 🐝 again. This time their opponents are the Marigolds 🧤. We’re in the south end of the West Stand with the Lardy Army 🧈 supporting the Hornets who have just been crowned 👑 the Isthmian Champions 🏅. Up to the NLS for them next season. They are also the holders so looking to retain the cup tonight. The Marigolds (I’m glovin’ it) finished 18th in the Isthmian South East after an unremarkable season leaving them 40 places below the high flying Hornets. We haven’t seen the Hornets this season but remember some of the players. We also recognise Ole O from Lewes who moved as part of a recruitment raid on the Rooks by Horsham last summer. No Dougie this year as he has gone back to Bognor. Some season he has had, leaving the Hornets who get promoted ⬆, to join the Rocks who got relegated ⬇. Coincidence? Or is he still on the Hornet's payroll to sink their rivals. Probably not, he hasn’t played much and isn’t that influential on the pitch these days. There are no fireworks or taking the knee tonight. There are lots of photos as it’s a big occasion for non-league players. Let’s get going as it’s 5 minutes late for kick-off already. Blood and guts non-league football incoming. Hopefully 🙏🏼.
The Hornets are on the front foot and put the ball in the net in the 3rd minute. It’s disallowed for off-side to zero protest. There follows lots of scruffy football with the Hornets trying to play their passing game and the Golds trying to play long. Most notable event of the half is the Gold keeper collapsing in pain and having to be replaced. It’s level at the break.
The Hornets looked a little leggy or maybe hungover from the league win in the first half. Need to step it up now. They do for a while and get a series of corners. It’s the Gold who look the most up for it though and their tackling becomes even more spirited. The Golds keeper looks to be injured as he sits down, Zinsberger style. Are we going to see another keeper change? He recovers and we start. Wonder who would have gone in goal? The Golds have their tails up and look full of energy. They need to be careful of the outlets for that energy as their rate of bookings goes up as well. The ref is filling up his little black book but is being mostly fair with it. Although he does miss a big 2 footed tackle on one of the Hornets. They are applying all the pressure as we go into 6 minutes of injury time. The Gold fans have started to make themselves heard but it’s limited to “Your support is effin shit” (which it most certainly isn’t) and “we hate Horsham” although they play in a different league. Weird, predictable and boring. The Lardy army haven’t stopped singing with old favorites like “Start spreading the lard” and “The Yellow and the Green” despite looking second favorites to win it from here. The Hornets break out of the Golds press but are stopped by a challenge within sight of the Golds goal. Into the last minute as Hammo steps up to take the free kick. He hasn’t scored from a direct free kick all season but no-one will remember that because he sticks this one in the top corner ⚽ with just seconds left on the clock. Unbelievable scenes in the Lardy end. It’s still chaos in the stand as the whistle goes straight after the restart . Some last gasp win for the Yellow and Green.
Wow. That’s 3 big wins for us in 6 days. The Hornets retain the Cup 🏆. Littlehampton must be broken 😭 to lose that so late on. They looked most likely to score as the clock ticked down but a free kick shattered their dreams with almost the last kick. Made up for the Lardy Army who have got behind the Yellow and Green for the whole game. We could hear them still singing in the ground from the Bridge car park. The Hornets looked slightly off the boil tonight. Too much celebration after their promotion or a bit of complacency from the holders. Makes no difference now. The Golds were certainly up for it and a little bit too committed in some of the tackling. They tried to apply some level of dark arts but were fortunately beaten by a side focused on quality football. We are made up for the Hornets. They have been building to this for years and to do the double is amazing for them. The Lardy army certainly played their role in the season and tonight. Hope the Hornets are back next year to beat another opponent. This is the last of 4 visits to the AMEX this season. Hope to get to a few more next season. The U23 final was also tonight and Newhaven lost to the all conquering Hassock who have won everything this season. Congrats to the Robins.
POTM: There can only be one winner here. It goes to James ‘hammo’ Hammond for the goal. He won the game with that kick. Congrats. That won’t be forgotten for a while.
The officials had a mixed night. Missed a few fouls and offsides. It was certainly busy for them and they managed to upset both sets of fans. Ref will need to add some pages to his little black book after that.
The Scran’O’meter downgraded the Veggie pie 🥧 from 9/10 to 8/10 due to the temperature or lack of. Bottle tops were removed as usual for fortress AMEX.
That's it for men's football now. See you in Birmingham for the last game of the WSL season.
Love Tranmerekat 🐾
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| AMEX under the lights |
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| Winners again |
