Burscough 2-1 Tamworth

The FA Trophy Final
Villa Park
Sunday 18th May, 2003

Two goals from Gary Martindale either side of the break handed Burscough The FA Trophy, despite a late rally from Tamworth, and gave manager Shaun Teale a perfect return to his former Villa Park home.

Teale, now player-manager at the Northern Premier League club, was back at the club he spent four years from 1991-95, and helped his side to victory with a strong display at the heart of the Linnets defence, and he was delighted with the victory in what was his first season in charge at Victoria Park. "It's been an unbelievable day, a marvellous occasion in a fantastic stadium, and an amazing feeling to win the FA Trophy in my first year as manager," he said after collecting the prize with his captain, Carl Macauley.

But it was another ex-pro, Gary Martindale, who has enjoyed spells with Bolton, Peterborough, Notts County, Mansfield and Rotherham, whose two goals sealed the win for the Lancashire side.

Sunshine greeted Burscough and Tamworth as they took to the field, a day after The FA Cup Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, to contest the non-league equivalent in a more traditional fashion than the 'indoor' match 24 hours earlier, and it was Tamworth, the local favourites, who started the brighter of the two, while Burscough were left in the shade.

Within two Scott Rickards almost put the Tamworth ahead, guiding Steve Walsh's header over from 5 yards, but that was the sign of things to come in the opening quarter.

Burscough, who finished in 18th place in their league, looked edgy from the first whistle, while the Lambs, looking for a double after winning the Southern League Premier Division and with it promotion to the Conference, took the game to them in front of a large turnout from the Midlands.

Only a minute later, Rickards, whose extra-time strike against Havant & Waterlooville sent Tamworth through to the Final, was again involved and his lay-off to the feet of Richard Follett was driven just wide of the goal following a slight Burscough deflection.

Most of Tamworth's attacking play was focused around Rickards, dropping deep to collect the ball, running at the defence and linking well with the wide players, and on seven minutes his neat one-two allowed David Robinson, bursting into the box, to get a shot off but the leg of Matthew Taylor in the Burscough goal pushed it the ball into the side-netting.

If a goal was going to come, it looked like Tamworth's possession would see them get it, but their lack of punch in front of goal meant that when John Lawless struck a fine left-foot volley just wide for Burscough, after a half-clearance from former Leicester defender Steve Walsh, a glimmer of light began to appear for the Linnets.

And when Rickards was soon to collect a sore ankle following a challenge with Bowen, he lost his sharpness and Tamworth began to have their route to goal blocked. Rob Warner did try to inject some of the pace that Rickards had earlier, but when he powered towards the box, his shot from 20 yards went just wide.

And Mark Sale, the former Colchester United striker standing at well over six feet tall, looked another option for Tamworth with anything they could toss forward aerially, but they just couldn't find the right ball to him.

And on 25 minutes, the tide turned and with only their second chance, Burscough were in front. As Tamworth looked to play the ball out of their half, a sloppy pass was intercepted by Lawless. He carried the ball forward and with the movement of the lively Peter Wright dragging two defenders wide, Lawless fed a neat flick through to Martindale unmarked, who made no mistake slotting past Darren Acton.

The under-dogs were in front and now Tamworth really had to make something happen, and within 60 seconds, but for a fine save from Taylor, Mark Cooper almost levelled. But his powerful free-kick 25 yards out, which was heading for the top corner before Taylor pushed away, was their last offering of the half.

Burscough were quickest out of the blocks after the half-time oranges, and Bowen's left-foot volley from the penalty spot, connecting well with a Lawless corner, almost increased their advantage but narrowly missed. Then on 56 minutes Lawless was again the provider, with some help from Tamworth keeper Acton, and Burscough were two-up.

Losing Cooper as he created himself space in the middle of the field, 20 year-old Lawless carried the ball towards the box before unleashing a powerful, low drive.

Acton was down well to block, but he could only parry towards the feet of Martindale who was the fastest to react, and his tucked it away under the flailing body of Acton.

With eleven minutes remaining, Tamworth were handed a lifeline. A throw-in from the left into the Burscough box was only cleared as far a the thrower, Turner, and he delivered in a low near post cross. Cooper, who again came close with another free-kick 20 minutes earlier, nipped in front of Taylor to clipped the ball over the line, despite Teale's effort on the line to clear.

Tamworth still need another and began to launch the ball into the danger zone, but Teale and his rear-guard held strong and coped with everything. When Uriah Rennie's fourth official signalled four injury time minutes, Tamworth were lifted again as they searched for the leveller, but it was Burscough who had the best opportunity to score the game's fourth goal.

Wright collected a short free-kick inside the Tamworth half. He ran passed the Lambs defence with a drop of the shoulder but instead if the emphatic, no-mess, finish that would have sealed the win and given him a goal that his movement richly deserved, opted instead for placement, and the side-netting foiled him.

The final whistle was met by jubilation from the team in green and 31-year old Martindale, who'd been replaced on 81 minutes, leapt from the bench like an exited teenager screaming with delight and his manager was equally as happy with the performance. "Our game-plan was not to concede goals," said Teale, "with 23 clean sheets we are obviously hard to score against, and I thought the boys played brilliantly, even though we did let one in towards the end."

But his counterpart from Tamworth, Darron Gee, was disappointed that his side couldn't take advantage of their early superiority: "It's just been a disappointing day - we lacked a cutting edge, playing like we were on a training ground for the first 25 minutes.

"We didn't put the ball into the box enough, which you have to do when you have a six foot six inch guy in there."

He added: "Basically we under-performed but there is no blame on any one player, and we take nothing away from Burscough, who defended very well and capitalised on our mistakes for the goals."

But though they didn't win this time, Tamworth still have the consolation of the league championship and Conference football next season. "We'll be disappointed for half an hour or an hour in the dressing room afterwards, but this hasn't ruined what has been a brilliant season, the players have been fantastic all year.

"And it would have been even better to win The FA Trophy, here in these great surroundings and great atmosphere, for the supporters."

But the final word came from Teale, his remarks underlined just how important this competition is to clubs from outside the Football League: "I had said to the boys after we beat Yeovil that not to win here today would mean that all that effort had been wasted. I asked them to go out there and give everything for ninety minutes. If your body aches after that but you've won The Trophy, you don't care.

"Once we scored, I never thought we'd lose. This ranks right up there with anything else in my career."

From Jamie Bradbury

Teams
Burscough
Matthew Taylor, Carl McAuley (c) (Michael White, 76), Joe Taylor, Shaun Teale, Ryan Bowen, Mark Byrne (John Bluck, 84), John Norman, Paul Burns, John Lawless, Gary Martindale (Kris McHale, 81), Peter Wright
Subs not used: Gary McGuire, Marvin Molineux,

Goals: Martindale 25, 56

Tamworth
Darren Acton, Rob Warner, David Robinson, Steve Walsh, Richard Follett, Nick Colley, Mark Cooper (c), Brian McGorry, Steve Evans (Mark Turner, 65), Scott Rickards (Paul Hatton, 89), Mark Sale (Mark Hallam, 56)
Subs not used: Darren Grocutt, Neil Barnes

Goals: Cooper 79

Attendance: 14,265

Referee: U D Rennie (Sheffield & Hallamshire FA)
Assistant Referees: R L Lewis (Shropshire FA) and S J Tanner (Somerset FA)
Fourth Official: M Clattenburg (Durham FA)