Topsham Town’s Coronation Field was the venue on a boiling hot sunny afternoon as both University of Exeter and Alphington attempted to complete a trophy double this season with the Alphas having already won the league and the Students having won the Devon Premier Cup.
A late influx of supporters arriving just before kick off meant that the opening ten minutes were missed by a large section of the crowd, however, not much was missed as the game started in typical cup final fashion with a cagey start as neither team wanted to make a mistake.
The first half had few chances as Alphington started the stronger side but couldn’t test the University keeper Ben Roberts in the opening exchanges. The best chance the Alphas had came when a ball was dragged back to Tre Davey who put his effort wide of the target with a deflection of the Uni defence. Moments later and Ryan Moody fired over a similar effort as a ball was passed back to him from inside the area.
The Students slowly started to get back into the game and they managed to open the scoring on the half an hour mark with a clever finish from close range. Luke McIver managed to keep the ball in play when most had thought it had gone out for a goal kick with his lunging cross finding Sam Shearer who cleverly managed to flick the ball past Leon Woodhead in the Alphington goal.
With the first half drawing to a close Alphington had one final chance to draw level when Ryan White tried his luck from distance but his effort flew over the bar.
As the second half began the Students caught the Alphington defence napping and almost scored a second taking the game out of reach as Bertie Whymark shot from the edge of the box but his effort was tame and dribbled wide of the target.
With the second period just over five minutes old the Devon League Champions found themselves level as Tre Davey’s weak shot rolled towards goal and was flicked past Roberts by Ryan Moody from close range.
Alphington took control of the game as the second half progressed and put the pressure on the University defence and Tre Davey had a glorious chance as the ball fell to him on the volley but he failed to keep the effort down as the ball flew over the bar and out the ground.
With moments left on the clock Alphington were desperately looking for a winner as the ball was crossed into the box on numerous occasions but the majority of crosses were cleared by the Uni defence. One chance did fall Alphington’s way though as Ben Turner headed a cross over the bar.
The referee blew his whistle to end the match and the game would have to be decided by the dreaded penalty shoot out.
Jake Haggerty had his penalty saved and Matt Steer scored to give Uni the advantage. Harry Warren and Sam Shearer both saw their efforts saved before Ben Turner scored to level the scores. Ollie Kavanagh and Tre Davey both scored theirs before Michael Massey and Harry Walford converted. This mean that Ben Harris only had to score to win the game for the University and he fired his effort into the bottom corner.
Congratulations to University of Exeter who are the VX3 League Cup champions as another season comes to an end. We would like to wish everyone an enjoyable and restful summer and we look forward to the start of another season in August.
University of Exeter team: Ben Roberts, Tim Barber, Bertie Whymark, Ben Harris, Ollie Kavanagh, Adam Jones, Joe Zamir, Michael Massey, Sam Shearer, Sami Ahmadi, Luke McIver
Subs: Harry Dunlop, Charlie Hewlett, Matt Steer
Alphington team: Leon Woodhead, Charlie Dack, Jake Haggerty, Jordan Casey, Dylan Isaac, Alex Bond, Harry Walford, Henry Woodward, Ryan White, Tre Davey, Ryan Moody
Subs: Sanocy Camara, Rio Potter, Ben Turner, Harry Warren, Harry Wellaway