Those Were The Days; 28th March 2005

[Les1949]

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
28th March 2005

Middlesex Senior Cup Final (@ Staines Town FC)

HRBFC 1 (Inns, 51) Yeading 2 (Haule 2’ 86’) Att; 563

HRBFC;-
Kieron Drake; Graham Harper, Dean Wells, Craig Lewington (Dudley Gardner, 87’), Matt Elverson, Orlando Jeffrey, Alan Inns, Elliott Godfrey, Luke Fontana, Ryan Ashe, Obinna Ulasi (Andy Morley, 87’).
Unused Subs; Steve Omonua, Tom Crossland, Abdul Saeed-Osman.

What an absolute shambles of a cup final. Prior to the kick-off, once the team line-ups had been confirmed, the Beavers informed the Middlesex Officials that Yeading were fielding two ineligible players (keeper, Ross Flintey and defender, Steve Wales), both having been signed after the semi-final. Yeading had apparently been given special dispensation for signing a keeper but insisted that Wales was ‘legit’. A Hampton Official (hands up, it was me!) contacted the Ryman League Registration Secretary, who confirmed that Wales was ineligible. Hampton had followed the rules implicitly, as they had not included Richard Pacquette, who had signed for the Beavers after their semi-final. The Middlesex Officials refused to be swayed and Yeading sent out their team as listed and eventually the match kicked off. As for the match itself. Yeading took the lead in the 2nd minute through Davis Haule, Inns equalised for the Beavers from a corner in the 51st minute. Haule scored his second two minutes from the end to ‘win’ the trophy.
After a few days, the Middlesex FA announced that the match would be replayed on the 26th April (two days before Hampton were due to play Slough in the Isthmian League Cup Final). At the end of the season the Beavers played four matches from Saturday to Saturday; two league games, two cup finals, and lost them all, missing out on a promotion play-off spot. To this day, many Hampton supporters are still not fans of the Middlesex FA!


The Old Historian