Barnes Albion v Oyster Martyrs
The FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup
The Final
2pm, Sunday 21 April 2013
Pirelli Stadium, Burton Albion FC
Leighton McGivern is hoping to lead Oyster Martyrs to their second FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup triumph in three years.
The Liverpool & District Sunday League side won this competition in 2011 when they beat local rivals Paddock 1-0 in The Final, their winning goal coming from the prolific McGivern.
In the absence of Martyrs’ club captain, Tony Rendell, ruled out through injury, the Anfield native will don the armband for this year’s Sunday showpiece against Middlesex outfit Barnes Albion.
McGivern said: “To be fair, I’d rather have Tony out there captaining us because he’s our leader.
“I’ll do the best I can, but we are all leaders on the pitch so it won’t be all about me. We’re a mad bunch but we’ve got a great team spirit.
“In this city The FA Sunday Cup is massive. Every team in Liverpool talks about it and wants to win it.
“As amateur Sunday league players this is the biggest cup we can play in and to win it is a bit of a dream.
“To captain this team in The Final and to lift The Cup would be unbelievable.”
A one-time Rochdale team-mate of Premier League duo Rickie Lambert and Grant Holt, McGivern certainly enjoys The Sunday Cup, having scored in every round of this season’s competition, just as he did in 2011.
But, despite his form in front of goal, he acknowledges the difficult nature of Oyster’s run to The Final.
He added: “You know you’re going to have some tough games in this Cup and it has definitely been that way this year.
“Alder and Burradon both gave us a good game and we had to show character to go through. But we know that we’ll create chances in any game we play and it’s up to us to take them.”
