Essex Alliance Senior Division Cup Final, Wednesday 14th May
The penultimate Alliance league cup final was upon us, and the final one at Dagenham & Redbridge too, as it was the turn of the top division's cup final and it would be contested between Woodford Town Reserves & Kulture on another lovely sunny evening in East London/Essex.
Woodford Town Reserves had just completed a solid season in the top flight, ending up seventh in the table having won thirteen of their thirty league games, drawing seven and losing ten, so not spectacular by any means but solid and a top ten finish, not so bad, it was a damn sight better than their opponents this evening who had finished fourth bottom and had been relegated from the Senior Division.
Kulture ended up conceding 97 goals in their thirty league games and ended up way short of safety, and a huge twenty points behind their opponents in this final, but this competition had at least given Kulture something to cheer about this campaign, netting wins against some teams who finished way above them in the division.
Their journey began with victory at Waltham Forest Borough in Round One, the team who ended up finishing just above them in the table in 12th although with a nine point deficit, before they then saw off league runners up Lymore Gardens on penalties in the next round, and they set up this final by defeating eighth placed FC Petrocub, again away from home, in a seven goal thriller, so they had some cup pedigree for sure, even if their league campaign had been a disaster.
Woodford's run to the final should have ended in Round Two, the Quarter Finals, as after they had seen off third placed Haringey Borough U23s in Round One, they were soundly beaten at home 4-1 by Ongar Town, but Ongar had fielded a player who was cup tied in that game meaning they were removed from the competition and Woodford were put through to the semi final.
And they capitalised on this good fortune by netting a 1-0 win at Frenford Development, setting up a final against Kulture, could they go on a win the competition after being reinstated, or could Kulture end their disappointing season on a high?
Jayden Alexander fired over a decent opening for Kulture before Kris Ozols produced a decent diving stop to prevent Woodford's Arthur Massingham's curling effort from finding the net, but on 27 minutes Kulture had a golden opportunity to go ahead when striker Olu Durojaiye was brought down inside the box by keeper Callum McEvoy to see Kulture awarded a penalty.
But Woodford skipper McEvoy redeemed himself by saving Durojaiye's spot kick, meaning it remained goalless, and in my view Woodford received another slice of luck and a let off just before half time when Kian McEvoy swung an arm into the face of Durojaiye who was trying to challenge him for the ball, however it was deemed only a yellow card offence with Kian McEvoy's view that he was merely trying to get away from the attentions of the Kulture striker. On another day it could have been a different colour.
Kulture though had certainly been the better side in the opening forty five minutes and would have been the happier of the two although that penalty miss would have been a frustration for them, however, six minutes after the break they would find themselves behind as Woodford were the ones to find the breakthrough, Louie Cooper managed to get through on the right hand side and although his effort was blocked on the line, it fell perfectly for Bailey Brown who duly side footed home into the empty net, advantage Woodford.
And only eight minutes later in the 59th minute they doubled their advantage to really give Kulture a mountain to climb, and it was the Cooper/Bailey combo once again, Cooper lifting a lovely cross to the far post where Brown was waiting to rise and plant a lovely header into the bottom corner of the net, 2-0 Woodford with around half an hour to go.
Could Kulture get back into this? Well, they had plenty of openings but just like the first half were found wanting in the final third, had they had more composure in that area the result may have been different, but they didn't, and were unable to find a way back into it, Woodford had chances themselves to kill the game but couldn't either, but those two Brown goals early in the second half proved enough for Woodford Town Reserves to claim the trophy and end their season on a high.
Full time Woodford Town Reserves 2 Kulture 0
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