Spot-on Sidley lift Senior Cup

SIDLEY United gained some consolation from a difficult season when they lifted the Hastings Senior Cup at the expense of higher grade Hastings United at the Pilot Field.

The final proved something of a non-event as the teams cancelled each other out in normal and extra time which meant the destination of the trophy had to be decided by penalties.

Hastings looked to have taken the upper hand when they led 2-0 after the first two rounds of spot-kicks but successive saves by Rob Wiley to deny Peter Sayer and former Sidley player Russell Eldridge meant it was still up for grabs. Wes Tate, Ben White and Kevin Rose all converted from 12 yards, while goalkeeper Chris May made no mistake for the hosts so the outcome went to sudden death.

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Wiley completed a hat-trick of stops to deny Simon Stickney although it has to be noted that the Hastings substitute's one-step run-up and weak strike will go down as one of the worst penalties seen at the ground. Owen Ball took advantage by drilling the ball beyond May to clinch a 4-3 shoot-out success.

May was the busier of the keepers during the match itself, pulling off excellent saves in the first half of normal time to deny Chris Copley and Dave Ward, but Hastings should still have won. Stickney had four great openings to break the deadlock but failed to make any of them count - the pick of the bunch being an extra time miss from four yards.

Sidley polish off their Sussex Division One campaign with a trip to title-seeking Chichester City United on Saturday May 1.