Sunday was cup final day for the mighty Borehamwood 2000 U15 Boys vs Evergreen Tigers, the Champions from the league above.
The Borehamwood management knew it would be a great test but also had every confidence in the squad to deliver the trophy having already beaten the teams in 2nd and 4th from the league above in previous rounds.
The talk before the game was to take it as just another game and to make sure the boys left everything on the pitch and had no regrets come Sunday evening. The talk of becoming Bwood 2000 legends hung high in the air. The heroic way they had fought back the week before to gain promotion filled the squad with a hunger and inner belief that it was in their own hands.
The Wood started slowly and it was Evergreen who pushed for the opening goal with 2000 looking slightly nervous. And it was these nerves that cost the Wood, when inside 10 minutes a stray pass found the Evergreen striker who was fantastically denied by Torshakani only for the ball to fall to the winger of Evergreen who slotted home from a tight angle. Advantage Evergreen. Evergreen then seemed to kick on and had a few half chances. The Wood needed to get a hold of the midfield and play their own game. Joyce, Gilsenan and McGregor did just this. Playing great angled passes to the ever impressive Staszewski and Sheppard. Full backs Hebblethwaite and Sutherland had started to come to terms of man marking the Evergreem danger-men on either wing and this gave the whole team a confidence to push on.
Lennard up top started to put the centre backs under pressure and put his body on the line. It was after some courageous work down the left where he took a whack, the ball fell to Sheppard who twisted his man inside out and found the ever present Gilsenan in the middle of the park. Gilsenan after some great quick feet had a dig from 20 yards and it was too hot to handle for the Evergreen keeper to make it 1 1 and give the Wood a huge boost just when they needed it.
The solid partnership of Adom and Fernando seemed to be becoming more and more confident as the game went on. And the Wood were purring, following a well worked goal kick, Hebblethwaite found McGregor who hit a pass that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the upper echelons of the footballing world. The threaded ball found Staszewski who dipped inside and crossed a great ball into the box, Lennard let the ball run and everyone seemed to switch off. All except one, Sheppard made a great run to the back post and tapped home to give the mighty Wood a now deserved 2 1.
Half time came and the Wood had a 2 1 lead and knew they were just 40 minutes away from legendary status and into the Bwood 2000 record books. The talk at half time bred more confidence that this game was there for the taking and another good half would see them crowned Champions.
The 2nd half started in the same fashion. Fernando and Adom with Torshakani behind them were as solid as ever and with Hebblethwaite and Sutherland giving the Evergreen danger men nothing but aggro. The next goal would be crucial. Lennard took a few more knocks from the big centre half’s but this only seemed to rile him up, Staszewski found Lennard just inside the Evergreen half and off he went, running at pace, the defender carried on backing up, Lennard cut inside onto his right foot and drilled the ball low and hard back across the keeper to make it 3 1 and score his 30th goal of the season. The Wood team, management and fans went mad.
Smith replaced Lennard who had run himself into the ground for the team. Smith came on and was straight into the mix causing problems for both centre halfs.
The talk from the Evergreen management was that another goal would make it squeaky bum time for the Wood. Evergreen had a chance from a corner where the centre back hit the bar. Minutes later the Wood clearly hadn’t learned their lesson and the centre half scored from a great corner into the box. This rallied the Evergreen team and management to believe that Borehamwood would now be in panic mode.
The Wood had other ideas, Just 18 seconds from kick off the Wood went back to 2 goals up. The kick off was laid back to McGregor who played the ball deep into the Evergreen half, after some great work from Staszewski to win the ball back he pulled the ball to the edge of the box to the on rushing McGregor, the ball bounced up but McGregor wasn’t to be denied, hitting the volley across the keeper in off the post. If it was squeaky bum time that goal was the wd40 equivalent!
Parratt came on to bring some Samba flair to the occasion for the impressive Sheppard on the right. His calm and laid back approach was just what was needed.
Somethings happen in games and it just tells you that today is your day and it can also put the final nail in another teams chances. This wasn’t from a goal or even a red card. A corner was put in from The Wood and it went deep, Parratt did well to keep the ball in. The big Evergreen centre half who was starting to get confident running the ball up the pitch latched onto the ball, Adom who had been forward for a corner sensed the danger and came across with nothing but sheer determination and power and put in a challenge that was as good as anything seen all season, drawing whoops amd cheers from all the squad, no malice, with both boys going for the ball. But my friend you have been Adomed 💣 And from this moment the game was over.
There was still more to come from the Wood though. A deep free kick was whipped into the box and from just inside the box Gilsenan guided a header into the top corner to make it 5 2. Job done.
Mill, Chen and Murphy replaced Sutherland Staszewski and Gilsenan with 10 minutes to go to tie the game up. All 3 carried on where the other players left off with determination and quality in their performances.
The Wood saw the game out with a solid performance that in the end was as good as it can get. The final whistle went and they had done it. League Cup champions.
The whole squad had contributed to the cup win, four games against top opposition in every round. A special shout out to Evans who didn’t get on the pitch but is as much a part of the squad as any member.
The Wood had completed the mission, from heroes the week before gaining promotion in the last minute to becoming Wood legends winning their first Cup. What a day, what a team, what great parents and what a club.
Heroes are remembered but Legends never die 🏆⚽️😉