30 April 2014

 

The details for Village Manchester’s GFSN Cup final have been announced.

 

The club will take on London Romans at 4.30pm on Saturday 31 May at St George’s Park in Burton-Upon-Trent.

 

Village Manchester have reached the final by disposing of four formidable opponents along the way. They got off to an easy start as they were gifted a 3-0 victory in the first round over Brighton Bandits as the opposition were unable to field a team.

 

Next up they faced an away trip to the North East to face Newcastle Panthers. Village produced one of their best performances of the season by defeating the hosts 8-1 – booking themselves another trip up to Geordieland to face Leicester Wildecats in the Quarter Final as part of the GFSN’s winter tournament. This game brought up the club’s first real test of the cup run. A hard fought 1-1 scoreline after 90 minutes saw the game go straight to penalties – where keeper Baker excelled himself by saving a number of Leicester’s spot kicks to send Village through.

 

Village were handed a home draw in the semi-finals and they welcomed HotScots down from Edinburgh. After taking the lead with a free kick within the first couple of minutes, Village were pegged back following a goal from a corner. With the game drawing to a conclusion, the club’s top scorer Langford struck a fierce drive into the back of the net with five minutes remaining to hand Village a 2-1 win.

 

London Romans route to the final saw them face a number of high flying clubs – all away from home. In the first round they saw off Cup holders Mersey Marauders 3-1 before trouncing Trowbridge Tigers 5-2 in the next round. At the GFSN winter tournament they beat Yorkshire Terriers 4-1 before travelling up to Glasgow to defeat Saltire Thistle 3-2.

 

The final between the two clubs will take place in quite prestigious surroundings. St George’s Park, the English Football Association's national football centre, is the training base for all of the England national football teams and all coaching and development work undertaken by the FA takes place there.

 

The match will take place on an elite indoor 3G pitch - which comes complete with a 200 seater viewing gallery – which will provide an excellent atmosphere for both teams. The centre is based in 330 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland and also boasts 12 world-class training pitches, state-of-the-art hydrotherapy suites and biomechanics and training gyms.