Trophy triumph for Worksop Town Reserves as they chase double

With a second place finish guaranteed in the Macron Division One North, and a Division One League Cup final to look forward to with his team, manager Iain Newton is over the moon with his side’s achievements this season.

“To see how far these lads have progressed in a season is incredible,” he said.

“We are dominating teams with our free-flowing passing style and coping with a lot of older opponents who want to try to assert their physicality onto us.

“This no longer causes us any issues, and I look forward to hopefully getting another cup to our collection this season.”

Newton’s young Tigers showed their flair with some excellent ball controlling possession for significant spells against a more experienced, physical and direct opposition.

Kirk Bradshaw opened the scoring after 45 seconds with a neat header, after a clever flick on by Alfie Parnell.

The reserves were having a lot of joy outnumbering their opponents in wide areas, with ex-Tigers man Lee Hill given a torrid time in the first period down Worksop’s right by Shazz Hassan and Bradley Charlesworth.

Despite the Tigers having most of the ball in the early exchanges, Wickersley managed to pull one back in the first half, meaning the teams went in level at half-time after Scott Hartley’s equaliser on 22 minutes.

The second half started with another early goal from Worksop.

A through ball from Louis Browne was dummied by Bradshaw, before Hassan popped up on the right wing to slot a left-footed shot into the opposite corner, making it 2-1 to the Tigers.

Wickersley, as expected, started to play more direct but were hit by yet another goal from Worksop, this time from substitute Ellis Bennett, making it 3-1 on 68 minutes, courtesy of a neat finish.

Again Wickersley came back at Worksop and pulled one back on 70 minutes through ex-Tiger Hill.

Despite the onslaught of long balls thrown at the Worksop defence, they kept their heads and managed the closing stages to see the game out and take the trophy.

The silverware was then taken back to the Windsor Food Stadium for a victorious lap of honour in front of the home crowd.

An attendance of 843 awaited the young Tigers ahead of the first team’s game against Warrington Rylands.