Stirred on by the loss of club legend and past president Wayne Jones, the Trafalgar Victory Senior men recorded their most historic win in club history with a 1-0 upset over the Churchill Rams.
Jonesy lost his short battle to cancer just 2 days prior to the match, his youngest son Sam – a senior player, braved the heartache to play as his dad would have wanted. After a moving minutes’ silence with his family by his side, TVFC set in to a solid game plan delivered by coach Eamon O’Hare.
The first half was an even affair with neither side creating any clear scoring opportunity, the battle being fought in the middle of the ground with strong contested challenges from both sides’ midfield.
In the second half Churchill looked to stretch the Trafalgar side, using the width of the ground and their pace to move the ball about. The Traf men kept their shape with discipline and held the Rams goalless for the 90 minutes, the only chance a well-placed crossed that found a Churchill striker on the 6yd box – goal keeper Aaron Vaughan reacting quickly to make a fingertip save and put the ball over the cross bar.
The game continued to be a battle of nerve with both sides looking to ask questions of the other. The answers came for Traf in the 2nd minute of injury time when striker Ben Rotheram collected a lofted ball atop the penalty spot between two defenders, taking it on his knee then turning to strike on the half volley- he made no mistake and sent a rocket into the top left corner to secure maximum points and pull off a stunning upset.
Sam Jones and Connor Wyatt put in a pair of best on ground performances at the centre half, cutting out all Churchill advances with Ash Klemke, the general in the centre of the ground applying relentless pressure in both offense and defence.
Bests: S. Jones, C. Wyatt, A. Klemke, B. Rotheram.
Goal Scorers: B. Rotheram.
Trafalgar would like to thank the Churchill players and club members for their respect and sportsmanship on the day.
Report by TVFC President: Dylan Wyatt
