Bob Seymour Division Two

Trophy Final

Cowtons 2 Three Coopers 2

(aet, Cowtons won 4-1 on penalties)

GOALKEEPER Andrew Raw was the Cowtons hero as his two marvellous penalty shoot-out saves gave them the Bob Seymour Trophy in a dramatic final at Northallerton last Thursday.

Raw's late heroics even managed to overshadow a man-of-the-match performance by Three Coopers striker Johnny Sinclair, whose two fine goals seemed to have retained the cup for the Bedale side.

Cowtons settled the quicker and Dave Jenkinson's cross in the 14th minute almost brought the opener, but Ian Taylor could not quite stretch enough to turn the ball in at the far post. Six minutes later the two combined again, only for Taylor to shoot just wide.

But, with Matthew Gibb pulling the strings in midfield, Coopers began to look the more dangerous.

In the 26th minute a flowing move down the right ended when Raw denied Sinclair with a smart save. Four minutes later, a shot from Sinclair was deflected into the path of Lee McAffert, but he mis-hit his shot and Raw was able to block the effort at his feet.

With half-time approaching, Coopers finally made the breakthrough they had been threatening. Gibb flicked the ball on to send Sinclair clear in the 42nd minute and he brushed off two challenges before thumping the ball into the top corner of the net from 20 yards for a wonderful solo goal.

Coopers came out for the second half looking to kill the game off, but Gibb's shot from the edge of the box flashed wide of the far post and, within nine minutes, Cowtons were level.

A free kick from the left by Simon Corner caused panic in the Coopers defence and Brian Tucker fell under a challenge from Steve Megson. Referee Dave Helliwell had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, although the contact had seemed minimal. Despite the protests of the Coopers players, Corner kept his cool to smash the spot kick past Paul Dalton in the Coopers goal.

But Coopers soon regained control of the match. In the 62nd minute a dipping free kick from Gibb was superbly tipped over the bar by Raw and, from the resulting corner, a header by Michael Bailey was blocked on the line by David Woodcock.

Cowtons always looked dangerous on the break however and one such raid after 65 minutes almost brought Jenkinson a goal, but Chris Revis got back well to block his effort.

In the final minute of normal time Coopers almost snatched the cup when Raw dropped a long-range shot from Rob Titterington at Sinclair's feet, but the keeper recovered well to block his follow up effort and the final went into extra time.

Straight from the restart Cowtons substitute Rory Todd had a great chance to put them ahead when he was sent clear by Jenkinson. But he delayed his shot and Adam Coombs was able to get back and block it.

It looked to be a crucial miss when Sinclair put Coopers back in front in the 94th minute. Gibb again put him clear and his pace took him past the tiring Cowtons defence. Raw did well to deny him initially, but Sinclair reacted quickly to smash the loose ball into the top corner of the unguarded net.

There were just four minutes left when Sinclair spurned a golden opportunity to retain the cup for Coopers. He was sent clean through again by Gibb, but fired wildly over the bar to keep Cowtons in it.

Coopers were still ahead as the final entered its 120th and last minute and Cowtons now looked dead on their feet. But they launched one final attack and won a corner when Revis' tackle denied Jenkinson a shooting chance.

Todd swung in the flag kick from the left and it somehow found its way straight into the net despite Bailey's desperate attempt to stop it on the line.

There was barely time to restart the game before the final whistle blew and penalties were needed to decide the winners.

After Corner had confidently beaten Dalton with his second penalty of the night for Cowtons, Raw produced his first fabulous save to deny Megson. Jenkinson doubled the lead before Raw kept out Jez Smith's effort with his legs. When Grant then scored, it meant Coombs had to beat Raw to keep Coopers in it.

The Cowtons keeper made his third save in a row, again with his legs, but Helliwell ordered the kick to be retaken as he felt Raw had moved off his line too early. This time Coombs made no mistake, firing into the top corner, but it only delayed the Cowtons celebrations. Tucker stepped up to send Dalton the wrong way with the next kick to seal an amazing 4-1 shoot-out victory.

While captain Jonny Cowan went up to collect the cup and cap a great season for Cowtons, Coopers still have two matches left in which to clinch promotion to division one to help make up for this disappointment.

Cowtons: Raw, Woodcock, Cowan, Tucker, Lambert, Grant, Weighell, Corner, Taylor, Jenkinson, Pybus. Subs: Middleton, Bull, Todd, Leggott, McComb.

Three Coopers: Dalton, Smith, Coombs, Bailey, Revis, Megson, McAfferty, Sandiford, Titterington, Gibb, Sinclair. Subs: Smith (J), Monkhouse, Lumb, Allinson