Hemel Hempstead Town 2 Sun Postal Sports 1   St Marys Cup Final @ Leverstock Green FC     2002/03

Hemel take long road to overcome Postal strike

Hemel Hempstead Town were forced to fend off the brave challenge of Sun Postal to retain the St Mary's Cup at a sun-kissed Leverstock Green on Monday.
The success, achieved thanks to a goal either side of the break which wiped out an early Sun opener, ensured the Vauxhall Road side did not finish the season empty handed having seen their late promotion charge fall just short, and their hopes of Herts Charity Cup glory dashed in midweek bu Bishops Stortford.
Sun, however, have made a habit of finishing second in recent seasons and the latest runners up medal was their fourth in the space of two campaigns.
But with the extensive redevelopment of their Bellmount Wood Avenue ground well under way, and with the backing of ambitious chairman Alan McKane, Sun are a team going places.
The Herts County League side, missing the driving force of the suspended Paul Haynes, successfully bridged the four divisional gap between the sides and gave the Ryman Division One outfit a genuine run for their money.
Sun stunned the large crowd as they caught Hemel cold inside a minute.
A free kick from Mark Congalton was flicked over towering Hemel keeper Darren Bonfield by Dave Samson and Andy Mills headed the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
In fact, Sun could, and probably should, have been further in front had Neil Fraser connected with a teasing Ben Cowen centre and then not stumbled when put through by Conglaton.
Hemel, on the other hand, struggled to find their way through a well organised Sun defence in which the towering performances of Mark Ash and Robert Coldrake stood out like beacons.
When they did breach the defence they found Andy Hopping, the Sun keeper, in inspired form.
The vastly experienced stopper denied Brian Hammett, Gary Fitzgerald and Ellis Kodra with a string of fine saves that were ultimately earn him the man of the match award.
The number of free kicks Sun conceded in dangerous areas finally took its toll on the stroke of half time.
Kodra, the former Watford Academy star, curled in a free kick which kindly ricochet into the path of Gary Fitzgerald, the Hemel captain, who rammed the ball home.
If there was an element of good luck about the equaliser there was nothing remotely fortuitous about Hemel's decisive second which arrived just four minutes after the break.
An inviting centre from Jake Barry was met with an acrobatic scissor kick from Hammett which nestled into the bottom corner.
A fractious encounter finally boiled over on the hour mark when an over-zealous tackle from Coldrake on the grounded Brian Jones sparked a melee.
Coldrake received a yellow card as did the incensed Jones who, having already been booked, suddenly turned from victim to aggressor and headed for yet another early bath.
For all their endeavour, Sun failed to make the most of their numerical advantage and bizarrely created less chances than they did against a full strength Hemel, who suffered few further alarms as they comfortably held on for victory.

Sun Postal Sports: Hopping, McLaren, Affleck, Coldrake, Ash, Congalton, Samson, Shannon, Mills, Cowen, Fraser.  Subs: Freeman for Cowen, L Eldridge for McLaren, Pattison not used.