County glory as Greendale Oak chase historic cup treble

That’s after the Worksop Sunday League outfit registered arguably their greatest ever win on Sunday - the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA’s Junior Cup.

After receiving a bye in the first round of this year’s competition, Greendale had to progress through six rounds - conceding just three goals in the process - to proceed to Sunday’s final that was held at Barnsley’s Athersley Recreation.

In one of the biggest tournaments in the region, with around 150 teams entering this season, Greendale beat teams from Sheffield, Barnsley and Huddersfield en route to facing AFC Dronfield of the Blades Super Draw League in the final.

Greendale went into the game with a number of injury issues to contend with but the players and management team were determined to add to the Worksop Sunday League’s Challenge Cup success a fortnight earlier when beating Sherwood Ranger 4-1.

At Athersley, in front of a sizeable crowd, both Greendale and Dronfield battled to get on top in the early exchanges with neither dominating, although Dronfield had the better chances, striking a post and firing another effort just wide.

The second half was a similar story but the game opened up a little with tired legs and substitutions coming into play, with Greendale’s experienced heads managing the game well.

Alex Boyd and Steven Wankiewicz were impressive for Greendale and Ryan Barson made a crucial save with his legs before the deadlock was broken on 76 minutes.

A moment of indecision in the Dronfield defence allowed Matty Templeton to pounce, he won possession, broke clear and slid the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper - to the delight of everyone in green.

The remaining moments, expectedly, saw Dronfield try to force an equaliser but Greendale - marshalled by long-serving skipper Carl Lake - withstood a number of set-pieces before the final whistle blew.

That whistle signalled two things for Greendale, skipper Lake would collect the trophy after a 19-year association with the club and that assistant manager Keith Mills would be the only Worksopian to win this trophy twice!

Batchelors FC and Langold Old Boys have previously won the Sheffield Junior Cup from the town and Mills was manager when Batchelors lifted the trophy in the early 2000s

Mills is a major part of the Greendale management team and was instrumental in guiding the team through the earlier rounds of the competition.

After celebrating the success in usual fashion, Greendale quickly turned their attention to adding a third cup to the trophy-laden season.

They will complete a historic cup treble - never ever been done by a Worksop Sunday League team - if they beat Kilton Rovers in the Benevolent Cup Final on Sunday, 28th May at Shireoaks Welfare (11am kick off).