Prestwich put in a brilliant performance on Friday night to sweep aside Standish St Wilfrids by five goals to nil to clinch their first ever Lancashire Amateur Cup at The County Ground in Leyland.
In front of a large 300+ crowd, Craig Howarth’s men settled early nerves in the 12th minute as Ashford Blake burst in to the box before poking the ball past the onrushing ‘keeper and sliding home on the line.
Prestwich were in dreamland just moments later as Lee Bushell’s 16th minute strike from an indirect free-kick inside the box found the back of the net.
Standish, currently unbeaten in the Wigan Amateur League, were struggling to contain Prestwich at times and were desperate for the half-time whistle to re-group.
However, five minutes before the break, Bushell’s superb free-kick flew in off the underside of the crossbar to double his tally and put Prestwich within touching distance of the trophy.
Credit to Standish though who shuffled their pack at half-time and came out in the second half with renewed purpose as they finally started to work Alex Blake in the Prestwich goal.
Indeed, Blake pulled off a number of good saves in the opening exchanges to keep his goal intact.
But when Sean Haslam was felled inside the area by the on-rushing Standish ‘keeper, Ashford Blake slammed home the resulting penalty to end any hopes of a fight-back by the Wigan side.
With 30 minutes still to play, and the destination of the cup already decided, Prestwich were content to knock the ball around and try and pick-off their deflated opponents.
The scoring was finally completed when sub Chris Hudson burst in to the box from the left in the 90th minute and dinked the ball over the ‘keeper to allow the celebrations to begin in earnest.
PRESTWICH – Alex Blake, Mike Kirkley, Pete Gallagher (Marc Jeffreys), Richard Steadman, Paul Taylor, Darren Buckley (Tom Walsh), Joe Kosub, Anthony Roberts, Lee Bushell (2) (Chris Hudson (1)), Sean Haslam, Ashford Blake (2)
Match photo’s – Prestwich 5-0 Standish St Wilfrids
Lancashire FA Amateur Cup Final – Friday 14th March 2014
The County Ground, Leyland
