Kent County FA |
1-2 |
Birmingham County FA |
Sam Cliff 40 |
|
Marvin Johnson 4, Liam Doyle 82 |
The FA County Youth Cup
The Final
3pm, Saturday 2 May 2009
Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham FC
Birmingham FA lifted The FA County Youth Cup for the fourth time on Saturday after a 2-1 victory over Kent at Gillingham FC.
Marvin Johnson and Liam Doyle were both on target for Martin Sweeney’s side, while Sam Cliff’s strike temporarily restored parity for the home side on a warm afternoon at Priestfield.
It didn’t take long for the game to spark into life. Birmingham attacked down the right and a high delivery into the box Jamey Osborne was only half cleared by the Kent rear-guard. The ball dropped nicely to Johnson and he made no mistake, lashing the ball powerfully into the net from ten yards, giving Birmingham a fourth minute lead.
While both sides had opportunities to add to the scoring, it was Birmingham who dominated the first half.
But with five minutes remaining before the break, a Birmingham corner was dealt with by Kent keeper Deren Ibrahim and he quickly kicked long upfield beyond the visiting defence. Sam Cliff was onto it in a shot, and from the edge of the area, he lifted exquisitely over the head of Ian Kimberley and into the net.
The goal gave Kent extra confidence and they could have taken the lead just before half time, but Tom Phipp’s powerful strike from 25 yards clipped the top of the bar.
Kent continued to press forward after the break, and had a number of chances to grab a second, but with eight minutes left a free-kick outside the Kent box was chipped in behind the defence and met by Liam Doyle who guided his volley home, to the delight of the Birmingham defence.
Kent could find no response, and with the game in injury time they were reduced to ten men as a wild challenge on Johnson from Harry Harding gave the referee no choice but to produce the red card.
And when the whistle blew, it was Birmingham's day in the sun.
The Teams
Kent CFADeren Ibrahim, Tom Parkinson (c), Dean Brockman, Karl Dent, Pat Taylor, George Mitchell, Steve Brading, Harry Harding, Sam Cliff, Tom Phipp, Ben Greenhalgh
Subs Andrew Williams, Jack Rankin, Adam Woollcott, George Crimmen, Scott Heard
Manager Ken Brooke
Birmingham CFAIan Kimberley, Dean Rathbone, Danny Dineen, James Braid, Tom Law, Marvin Johnson, Liam Doyle, Joel Fuller, Josh Edwards, Jamey Osborne, Alex Price
Subs Dale Faultless, Todd Corry, Oliver Casey, Jake Brown, Tom Giddings
Manager Martin Sweeney
Kit colours
Kent Blue, white, blue
Birmingham Red, red, red
Officials
Referee Darren Sheldrake
Assistant Referees Stephen Daly and Christopher Powell
Fourth Official Robert Whitton
To watch highlights of the game, click on the video at the top of the page.