Worksop’s nine year wait for trophy is over

Tigers delighted their long suffering supporters by beating rivals Frickley Athletic in the final at Hillsborough, coming from behind twice to win.

A brace from top goalscorer Jamie Jackson and a peach of a strike from Owain Warlow sealed victory against former boss Peter Rinkcavage, in charge of his last game as Frickley boss.

His Yorkshiremen enjoyed a bright start, putting early pressure on Mario Ziccardi with a pair of long throws and a corner that led to a pair of shots - one blocked, one wide.

And they took the lead nine minutes in after an appalling mix up in the Worksop defence.

Marc Roberts and Kern Miller played a needlessly risky one-two, Ziccardi raced out to clear but Roberts pushed it past him and Brad Grayson stole in to find the empty net with ease.

After a fairly scrappy 10 minutes, Worksop were on level terms with their first slick passing move of the game.

They worked the ball well to have Frickley at full stretch and top scorer Jamie Jackson was on the end of the move to stroke home with aplomb from the left hand side of the box.

Tensions flared at the other end when Danny South went down under what looked like a shove but referee Craig Powson was unimpressed, incensing the men in blue and white.

The incident brought the two sides’ coaching staff together in the technical areas, Mr Powson having to calm things down.

On 33 minutes Massiah McDonald thought he’d scored a wonder goal, striking the ball from fully 25 yards and watching in agony as it cannoned off the inside of the post and away to safety.

There was almost more embarrassment for Ziccardi when Matt Young played a tricky back pass and the keeper had to chest and clear, slipping as he did so but fortunately the ball fell to his own defender.

There was nothing the stopper could do five minutes before the break when his defence failed to deal with a free-kick and the ball dropped nicely for Cecil Nyoni who controlled and volleyed into the net to restore Frickley’s lead.

The game see-sawed again before the break however, Owain Warlow picking up the ball in a central position 20 yards from goal and drilling it sweetly into the bottom right hand corner with his left foot to equalise.

And Tigers went ahead just 66 seconds into the second period.

Warlow whipped in a perfect cross from the left and Jackson was there to thump home a header giving Stephen Dickinson no chance in the Frickley net.

The Welshman on the wing for Worksop put his left peg to good use again a minute later, shooting from miles out and producing another quality strike, this one rising just over the bar.

He was in action yet again on the hour mark, running into the box to take McDonald’s pass and curl a low cross-cum-shot across the box that just evaded Jackson.

Grant Darley received the game’s first yellow on 69 minutes for his cynical rather than malicious tackle on Sharry, the Frickley man punished for going through the back of the Worksop midfielder.

It was Worksop’s turn to have a penalty appeal turned down when Jackson was felled from behind as he controlled in the box, the referee apparently happy with the challenge.

Sharry made way for Steve Melton in the final quarter of an hour, and Tigers almost fashioned a winner a minute later, Young bursting into the box and trying to cross for Jackson before a defender cut the ball out.

The yellow card was flashed to another former Worksop player on 85 minutes, Ben Turner carded for pulling back McDonald who had beaten him with a clever turn.

A mistake in the Blues backline allowed Jackson to hare into the box and he almost chipped Dickinson who sprawled well to save.

Warlow then came agonisingly close with a spectacular drive from the right hand side of the box.

But the missed chances didn’t prove costly as Worksop were able to keep Frickley under control in the final stages and see out injury time to clinch their 12th Sheffield Senior Cup title.