Coundon Conservative v Hetton Lyons CC
The FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup
The Final
2pm, Sunday 27 April 2008
Anfield, Liverpool FC.
Winning club receives £2000
Coundon Conservative manager Paul ‘Pele’ Aldsworth is hoping that he can lead his side to a second successive win in The FA Sunday Cup this weekend.
Aldsworth takes his team to Anfield to face Hetton Lyons, who they beat in last season’s Second Round before progressing all the way to The Final where they defeated Lebeq Tavern Courage by 5-0.
That was Coundon’s first ever foray into the competition and they know that if they can record a win on Sunday they will become only the third team in history to win The Cup for two consecutive seasons.
“The day we won The FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup last year was definitely one of the best days of my life and was a great experience for all of us,” revealed ‘Pele’ in the build-up to Sunday’s game.
“So for us to find ourselves here for The Final this season is another terrific achievement.
“The lads have been brilliant and it’s all down to them that we’re going to The Final.”
The game will be the first time that the two sides have met since last season’s tie, which ended with a penalty shoot out victory for Coundon.
However, the teams have also played before in regional competitions in the north-east when Hetton have run out as winners, so Sunday’s game looks set to be finely poised.
“We’ve played Hetton Lyons three times over the last few years and we’ve been beaten twice and won once, so it should be interesting,” added Aldsworth, who feels his team go into the match as second favourites.
“When we beat them in this competition last year, they may have had a weakened team but I don’t know what their strongest team would be because they’re so strong anyway.
“They have that much talent that I imagine it’s hard to pick their strongest team, so we know that we are going to be up against it on the day and we are definitely going into this game as the underdogs.
“We have a lot of respect for Hetton though, so may the best team win.”
Coundon are also lamenting the fact that they have a number of injury concerns ahead of the game, but ‘Pele’ is hoping that the team spirit in place in his squad will be able to carry them through.
“We have still got a few players absent,” he revealed.
“Phil Brumwell is struggling, whilst Christopher Beckett and Scott Nicolson are both definitely out and we’re waiting on about four or five others so we won’t have a full strength team.
“We will just give it our best bash though and see what happens.”
