Leicestershire County FA week ending 18th May by Mason Norton

And a big thank you to Andy Grout, who stepped into my shoes at Nanpantan Sports Ground for the Tiger Cup Final whilst I was otherwise engaged on Tuesday night. Congratulations to Aylestone Park Reserves, who become the first reserve team to lift the League Cup since Kettering Town Reserves in 1976, to add to their President's Trophy success two seasons ago.


We bring you two games from Holmes Park to round off this season. Firstly on Saturday, Loughborough Students Development travelled to Holmes Park for the final of the Saturday Trophy, where they faced Mountsorrel Amateurs Reserves from the County League. The Students were hot favourites, but Mountsorrel gave a decent account of themselves in the first half, with the score just 2-0 at half-time, and Mountsorrel having missed a golden opportunity to pull one back just before the interval. The second half though saw the Students find another gear as they have so often done this term, and they eventually ran out 5-0 winners, a brace of braces for Jordan Addo-Antoine and sub Adam Wallis, with Tom Speake also finding his voice and getting on the scoresheet.


That rounds off a pretty remarkable season for the University. Their Development side have pulled off an unprecedented quadruple, consisting of Everards Brewery Division Two, the Chairman's Trophy, the City Goldsmiths President's Trophy, and now a County Cup in the Saturday Trophy. Their first team, meanwhile, missed out on a County Cup of their own last week when they were beaten 2-1 by Anstey Nomads in the Challenge Cup Final, but will be playing at Step 4 next season after having thumped Skegness 7-0 in their UCL Premier North Play-Off Final. Combined with the recent withdrawal of Loughborough Dynamo from the National League System at the end of this season, and bearing in mind the Development side setting a LSL record when they beat Loughbough 17-0 in December in Div2, it seems very much as though 2023-24 will be remembered in Loughborough as the season where the footballing balance of power shifted definitively from Town to Gown. Whether the balance will ever shift back again remains to be seen in the seasons to come. 


And so to Tuesday night, and the final game of the season, when Hathern went to Holmes Park in search of becoming the first LSL side since 2008 to lift the Westerby Group Senior Cup, taking on UCL Div1 Step 6 side Kirby Muxloe in the Final. Kirby were nursing promotion regrets of their own, having been edged out of the play-off spots on the last day by Dunkirk and Harrowby, the latter then going on to be promoted through the play-offs. Hathern had finished the season second, looking to avenge a 6-1 mauling by Kirby in the last 16 last season. 


Both sides started cautiously, and Hathern began to carve out the first opportunities. However, it was Kirby who took the lead, hitting Hathern on the break as Roman Watson-Quilter gave them the lead after just eight minutes. Hathern though picked themselves up off the floor, and gradually began to win more and more possession, and began to threaten the goal at the other end more seriously. On 37 minutes, they got onto level terms when they won a free-kick on the edge of the box, Jack McLachlan's effort snuck under the wall and deflected off a defender past a wrong-footed keeper. The scores were level at the break, which nobody could begrudge. 


In the second half, Kirby came out of the traps, and won a penalty within a minute of the restart as they threatened to overwhelm the Hathern defence. Adam Parry's penalty however was straight down the middle at Hathern keeper Dan Owen, who cleared it with his feet. Kirby were stunned, and still looked a little groggy seven minutes later when Dan Hutton fired home for Hathern to put them in the lead and threaten an almighty upset. Hathern seemed in control of the game, and it was the Kirby keeper who kept his side in it, saving twice in one-on-one situations against Liam Walton and Jake Davies respectively. Kirby though weathered the storm and rang the changes, and in the final stages began to carve out chances. They got onto level terms when Hathern failed to clear their lines after a cross into the box, and Dan Barber smashed in the rebound as it sat up for him with nine minutes of regulation time left. 


A series of injuries to players from both sides meant a lengthy seven minutes of injury time, during which both teams had chances to win it. Kirby had a shot that whistled just wide of the far post and somehow eluded everyone, whilst Hathern had Walton in on goal with just the keeper to beat, only for the flag to go up from the linesman when Walton looked destined to score. It finished 2-2 at Full-Time, which took the tie to penalties. Kirby gained an early advantage when their keeper made a good save in the shoot-out low to his left, but Hathern drew level after Kirby's Paul Pallett dragged his shot wide. After five kicks each, it was 4-4, so it went to sudden death.  Two further rounds of kicks were required before Hathern's Lewis Edwards put his shot wide, and Kirby won 6-5 on penalties to claim the Cup in front of a crowd of 325.


Nonetheless, Hathern played arguably the game of their lives, and were unlucky to come out as losers. They came away with a lot of credit from the game, and were a credit to the LSL, who have proved their ability to compete with Step 6 sides in this season's competition, Hathern having beaten Holwell Sports en route to the final, Desford putting out Asfordby, Aylestone Park Reserves thrashing St Andrews and mid-table Premier side Burbage & Huncote humbling Saffron Dynamo earlier on in the competition. For Hathern, it rounds off a season that includes their highest-ever finish, having been runners-up in the Everards Brewery Premier Division this term to Allexton & New Parks. 


That completes the round-up for this week, and the on-pitch action for this season. We'll be back this weekend for a final ramble round the end of the season to tie up some loose ends and sum up the campaign. See you then.