Sutton Rovers 1 v Swinton Athletic 5 - Doncaster & District FA Cup Final

Friday 19th May 2017
The Dawson & Burgess Doncaster & District FA,
Challenge Cup Final
at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster Rovers FC
Sutton Rovers (1) 1
Adam Baskerville 14
Swinton Athletic (2) 5
Andy Whitehead 7 pen
Jake Ford 21, 79
Jon Billups 69
Joe Dungworth 87

Sutton Rovers:
Ellis Pattison, Danny bell, Tom Chambers, Adi Parker, Karl Bray, Konor Slack, Ryan Walker, Toran Adams, Danny Palmer, Adam Baskervillw, Tom Doherty
Subs - Mitch Wain, Nate Callus, Luke Williams, Josh Walker
Swinton Athletic:
Jordan Watson, Jamie Deakin, Alex Wilkinson, Andy Whitehead, Jon Billups, Owen Fieldsend, Enzo Guarini, Curtis Wilkinson, Jake Ford, Tommy Needham, Justin Greenwood
Subs - Joe Dungworth, Ryan Doxey, Darren Walker, Dan Morton, Shawn Mitchell

Prior to kick off an immaculately observed minutes silence was held in honour of Mr David Ambler, the President and former secretary of the Doncaster Senior League (for fifty years standing) and life member of the County FA, who very sadly passed away recently.
Swinton comfortably held onto the Challenge Cup, that they won in last season's final against Houghton Main courtesy of a 1-0 win; with a convincing 5-1 win over the league champions Sutton Rovers, at the home of the recently promoted Doncaster Rovers.

Andy Whitehead opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the seventh minute. In the programme notes, the Sutton captain Adi Parker was described as 'strong in the tackle' and the match referee, Mr Pat Hagan, ruled that his tackle had been a bit too strong when he upended Enzo Guarini inside Rovers penalty area and made no hesitation about pointing to the spot, despite several protests from the Askern based side.
The Rovers goalkeeper Ellis Pattison was kept busy as Swinton made an 'athletic' start, when he was needed to turn Justin Greenwood's shot from Tommy Needham's lay off around the upright at full stretch, before claiming Greenwood's knock back across the face of his goal, after Alex Wilkinson had delivered the ball into Sutton's six yard box from out on the right wing, after picking up the loose ball  the resulting corner was only half cleared.

Having been on the back foot during most of the opening exchanges, Sutton were on level terms after fourteen minutes when Ryan Walker attacked the Swinton goal from the right hand side of the area and evaded two challenges before rolling the ball across the face of Jordan Watson's goal to where Adam Baskerville swept the ball inside the right hand upright with a cleverly executed finish off of the heel of his right foot.
Guarini, who was man marked for most of the night by Danny Bell in a manner that suggested the Sutton right back was a paid hit man with a contract out on the live wire left sided attacking midfielder, launched a long distance pass towards Greenwood, whose downward header was well saved by Pattison.
Watson was tested by Toran Adams who let fly with a speculative long range effort, before play switched quickly to the other end of the pitch and Konor Slack had little choice but to foul Greenwood to break up a Swinton attack as they got forward quickly and outnumbered the Rovers defence.

Alex Wilkinson tried his luck from all of thirty five yards with the free kick and though Pattison got behind the ball, he could only parry it into the path of Jake Ford, who gratefully accepted the invitation to plant the ball into an unguarded net from ten yards out.
Watson rose above a crowd of players in his area, to pluck Bell's free kick out of the air as Sutton tried to restore parity once again, but it was Swinton who were looking most likely to add to their goal Tally, when Needham laid the ball off sideways to Greenwood who fizzed a shot narrowly over the bar, before Guarini escaped the attentions of Bell before sprinting forwards forty yards and forcing another good stop out of Pattison, who pushed 'Quadzilla's' firmly struck shot past his right hand post.

Mitch Wain came on late in the first half for Rovers and added some extra impetus on the left for his side, but they couldn't find the finishing touch to level things up before the break, even though Adi Parker went very close to scoring with a looping shot that dipped just over the bar.
HT: Sutton Rovers 1 v Swinton Athletic 2
Swinton went on the attack straight from the restart and Pattison had to be alert to thwart Ford inside the opening minute of the second half.
Adam Baskerville went to ground as he went shoulder to shoulder with Jon Billups just inside the Swinton penalty area, but neither the referee or his assistant saw anything wrong in the challenge and Andy Billups defending cup holders cleared the ball away to safety.
Rovers were trying their level best to stay in the game as Swinton picked up the ante and began to look the more dominant side.

Ryan Walker whipped a cross towards Baskerville but Owen Fieldsend headed clear and as Sutton picked up the ball half way inside the Swinton half, Adams hooked a long range shot over Watson's goal.
Guarini and Parker raced neck and neck towards the Sutton area from the left flank and although Guarini was toppled with a firm but fair nudge of the shoulder, he still managed to regain his balance and play an angled pass into the path of Greenwood who was only denied by another first class save by Pattison.
Once again Guarini flew at the Sutton defence from out on the left, but his run was cut short by another thundering challenge from Bell and Pattison was well placed to deal with Andy Whitehead's attempt to catch him out with a quickly taken free kick aimed towards the bottom left hand corner of the goal while everyone was expecting a cross into the scrum of players who were jockeying for position.

Sutton pushed forward but when Karl Bray had the chance to equalise, against the run of play, from a short corner routine, he planted a header narrowly wide of the left hand upright.
Swinton were perhaps a bit fortunate when Ford tangled with Danny Palmer inside their area, leaving him grounded with a clear sight of goal, but the referee was well placed and waved play on.
In the sixty ninth minute,Whitehead picked out Billups who rose like a salmon before crashing a header into the roof of Sutton's goal.
Within two minutes, Swinton almost had a fourth when a poor clearance freed Guarini, but as his shot was deflected and bounced up awkwardly into the path of Darren Walker he couldn't get his foot over the ball and keep it on target.

Ford sprinted forward from midfield through the right channel into Sutton's area, but as Pattison advanced from his line, Swinton's number nine shot across the face of goal and saw his effort skim past the wrong side of the left hand post.
But Ford had found his range now and with Sutton committing men forward to chase the game, he was able to burst forward once again, this time straight through the middle and curled his shot round Pattison as he came off of his line in a vainglorious attempt to narrow down Ford's options.
With just three minutes remaining, Sutton struggled to clear the ball amid a scramble in their area which presented Joe Dungworth with the opportunity to tap the ball past Pattison from close range to claim Swinton's fifth and final goal of the night.
Dungworth almost added a sixth in stoppage time when Guarini picked him out with a pass along the edge of Sutton's area, but he drilled his shot over the bar,
FT: Sutton Rovers 1 v Swinton Athletic 5

Swinton Athletic celebration photos by Tim @dribblingcode