Wednesday
28th July 2010
Rocester manager Dave Langston made nine changes to his starting eleven for this Steve Hackett Trophy Final at The Hawfields but the Romans still managed to come away with a positive result.
The match didn’t start well for Rocester though, and following a long, poorly defended free kick into the heart of their penalty area Adam Stockdale fired the loose ball past Karl Smith to give a sprightly Newhall side a 16th minute lead.
The setback appeared to galvanise a disjointed Rocester, and they managed to create a series of half chances. Steve Bennett had two efforts saved by Tom Allen in the Newhall goal after good work down the right, and Luke Gough came close when he hit the crossbar with a lovely flick just after the half hour mark.
Despite
the creation of these chances the poor surface and some keen tackling from
the home side combined to prevent Rocester from getting their passing game
going for the best part of the first half.
The introduction of Darren Bullock to the forward line and Jack Langston into the middle of the park gave Rocester a fresh impetus for the second period, which began well when Mark Hodson was shoved over just inside the penalty box. Jack Langston stepped up to confidently dispatch the ball into the back of the net to equalise with his second penalty of pre-season.
Despite
the leveller it was Newhall who were creating the clearer chances. They were
able to work the ball twice into clear shooting positions but Smith was
equal to their efforts and pulled off a couple of excellent saves.
The final third of the game saw Rocester increase the tempo and they were rewarded in the 79th minute following a foul on Kirk Lowe. Dale Roberts sent the free kick to the back post where Darren Bullock got up well to head the ball down to Connor Bird, who acrobatically turned the ball past Allen to give Rocester the lead.
Newhall pressured the Rocester goal for the last 10 minutes but they were unable to stop the Romans from collecting their first piece of silverware of the season.
Romans: Smith; Price; Lowe; Davis; Roberts; Gough; Simpson; Dacres (Langston 46); Hodson; Bennett (Bullock 46); Bird.
Attendance: 100 (est)
The tournament, which also included Gresley and Stapenhill, raised a total of £800 for the British Heart Foundation - Thank you to everyone who supported this worthy charity fundraiser in memory of Steve Hackett.
