Finishing The Season In Style (Part 1)

Lunchtime football in the sunshine

The final games of the season for me culminated at Wembley. Non League Finals Day is for me the finish to the campaign, the finals of both the FA Vase and Trophy on one day and a feast of football.

Last year I missed out with the games moved to Saturday afternoon to accommodate at Wembley but back this time around on Sunday and a day in the sunshine.

With a new name heading for both trophies whichever of sides won during the day it promised to be an afternoon of sides wanting to go for it on what is a monster of a pitch.

Despite there being a neutral section for these I much prefer to be in amongst the fans. Two years ago I was in the Ascot Utd end as they won 1-0 against defending champions Newport Pagnell Town, but then unable to defend their title due to promotion.

The year previous was the run of my adopted hometown Littlehampton, the only Sussex non-league side so far to make it to Wembley. This time around was another no brainer.

Whilst I reside in Sussex, I was born in Kent so heading for the Whitstable Town end was the only option for me. The Oystermen have had a pretty decent campaign, Kent Senior Trophy runners up, reaching the Southern Counties East Premier Division play-offs but just falling short after managing to overcome a lot of fixture congestion and now Wembley.

Up against them were AFC Whyteleafe, slap bang in the middle of much confusion in the Combined Counties South Division if you’ve managed to follow that over the last three weeks or so.

Leafe have been crowned champions, or at least currently so, despite a three way title race that involved Jersey Bulls and Redhill until both were deducted points for ineligible players, however the latter are now appealing so who knows where this is going and ends up!

Should they be confirmed as champions it’s a double promotion and a return to Step 4 where the previous incarnation of the club were before they folded, today however is all about Wembley.

As it should be this time of year, a day of glorious sunshine for us watching, energy sapping for those out on the pitch doing the running on that monster of a size pitch.

Whitstable seemed to settle the quicker, but Leafe were the ones playing the triangles and quick one touch passes, the lead becoming theirs after 21 minutes when Dan Bennett was the recipient of one of those neat passing moves and a deft finish past Dan Colmer for the opening goal of the game.

Having put together some neat moves such as this you would have expected Leafe to go on and grab a second whilst in command, but they seemed a little content to sit back and just stay on that lead which they held going into half time, despite the Oystermen coming on strong at the back end of the half.

I tweeted at half time (@trevk37 on Twitter/X) that Whitstable needed to find a higher gear in the second 45 to turn things around. Right from the first whistle they seemed to find it straight away and within six minutes they were level.

Putting the press on Leafe, they were rewarded with Harvey Smith unleashing an effort that seemed to either move in the air or plain deceived George Hill in the Leafe goal to level the scores.

That goal seemed to spur on the Oystermen but seemed to knock Leafe from their stride, the 10,000 strong backing from Kent certainly found their voice.

Town certainly bossed the second half, the press from the front was excellent and constant, a difference from the first 45 where it was half hearted and sporadic. They were indebted to Colmer though for a couple of superb saves and chances at the other end began to open up as players tired but neither side could find a breakthrough and extra time arrived.

With weary legs on both sides and each of them wanting to commit to find a winner, it left gaps that on the huge pitch couldn’t be covered, Whitstable broke away and Ronald Sithole rifled a shot into the roof of the net on 100 minutes to give the Kent side the lead at half time of extra time, Leafe having hit the post before that second goal.

Town did have the opportunity to make the game safe with a third goal but Leafe kept it out, and they couldn’t muster enough efforts to take the game to penalties and the Vase made it’s way to the Kent coast for the first time since Deal Town in 2000.

There was certainly a great affection between the Oysters fans and their players, shown often throughout the 120 minutes, Leafe I feel will be disappointed they didn’t build on their goal and really put Whitstable to the sword.

Robbie Rees was excellent when he came on for the Oystermen, took the press to the opposition and for me made the difference in the game, my man of the match in a game where any number of players could have walked away with that award.

Not many sides make it back to defend the trophy, it’s one of the toughest to get through so many rounds and do it again, but even if none of them manage to play in the national stadium ever again, they can always say they’ve done it once at least.