Walkers Sports and Social 4

St. Alban's Bank Quay 2

WALKERS retained Warrington Soccer League's GUARDIAN Cup after one of the most memorable finals.

Easter Monday's thriller at Rylands Recreation Ground had all the drama and excitement you could ask for.

From the first goal after 32 seconds to the clincher in the 79th minute the large crowd were thoroughly entertained by the two Division One sides.

St. Alban's, making their first appearance in the final, brought cup fever to Gorsey Lane with their vociferous support backed by primrose and blue cheerleaders.

They gave Walkers, also chasing promotion honours, the fright of their lives before succumbing in a second half onslaught.

It was Walkers' sixth success in the GUARDIAN Cup - a competition record.

Their hero was hat-trick man Peter Harris who explained that he always saves his goalscoring form for the big occasions.

He said afterwards: "I'm not a regular scorer and I'm the last one you would expect to score a hat-trick.

"But I did grab a hat-trick in our Depot Cup final victory last season - I must be a big game player."

Harris told how his first minute goal backfired on his team.

He said: "Going 1-0 up so early on turned into a disadvantage because we stopped playing and were struggling.

"But we showed character to pull it back and we're delighted. The GUARDIAN Cup means everything to us."

Walkers started like a house on fire. When the Alban's defence failed to clear from their own box, Harris blasted the ball home from 10 yards. It was the fastest GUARDIAN Cup final goal known.

Ninety seconds later Paul Adawee thought he had made it 2-0 with a beautifully struck 25-yard rocket shot but a linesman had spotted a teammate in an off side position.

After the storm, Alban's hit back. A long ball towards goal was intercepted by Chris Woodward and he found the target after rounding goalkeeper Martin Wilkinson.

This was a good spell for St. Alban's. Neil Barker fired the ball across goal but there was no support to pop it in.

Then Woodward's tantalising lob had keeper Wilkinson at sixes and sevens but it travelled inches over the bar.

Walkers soaked up the pressure and counter-attacked. Bobby Fitzpatrick won a penalty when he was pushed over by Wayne Owen. But goalkeeper Keith Rodgers was equal to Neil Maher's powerfully struck but mis-directed penalty strike.

St. Alban's went ahead for the first time in the 19th minute. John Dickenson twisted on the spot to bang home a corner in style. Adawee could only help it in to the net as he tried to clear.

Alban's sloppy defending let in a 43rd minute Harris header to level it at 2-2 for half-time.

The second half could never live up to the first, the relentless pace taking the energy out of Alban's in particular.

Walkers took control. Six minutes after the re-start Harris beat keeper Rodgers to a Brian Austin cross and Walkers were ahead again.

Then Adawee's wind-assisted cross hit the top of the crossbar. The game was settled when David Fisher flicked on a long throw-in for Stephen Smith to loop his header into the net.

Walkers: Wilkinson, Lawless, Harris, Austin, Brown, Sanson, Maher, Smith, Fisher, Fitzpatrick, Adawee. Subs: Ellis, Woodall, S. Harris.

St. Alban's: Rodgers, Jupp, Owen, Sutcliffe, Trantum, Dickenson, Woodward, McColl, Barker, Jones, Drewery. Subs: McWilliams, Holt, Malkin.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.