HIGHGATE ALBION IN SUNDAY PREMIER CUP FINAL AGAIN
Highgate Albion hosted FC Trent Park in a Middlesex Sunday Premier Cup semi-final, at their fine St Aloysius College Ground on Sunday last, 2nd March. Your Roving Team was in attendance.
The other finalists had been known for almost a month, since 9th February, when Olympia FC beat Club Assyria in a penalty shoot-out, following a goalless draw. This week’s match had been postponed several times by Albion’s progress in the FA Sunday Cup. They are now in the semi-final of that competition for the second consecutive season, following a very good away victory over St Joseph’s (Luton) on the previous Sunday. That tie had been postponed from the preceding week due to a waterlogged pitch.
Highgate Albion were playing for a third consecutive Middlesex Sunday Premier Cup final appearance. They beat Heavy Hitters 5-1 at Northwood FC in 2023 and lost by a single goal to AFC Hammersmith Town at Harefield United’s Preston Park last season.
The Middlesex Sunday Cup, which is kindly sponsored by The Gym Kitchen, was first played for in the 1977-78 season, when it was won by Kilburn Seniors.
34 teams entered this season’s competition.
After receiving a bye in round 1, Highgate Albion reached the semi-finals with victories against Heathrow Club (H 4-3) in round 2, Whitton Wanderers (H 6-1) in round 3 and Underdogs (walk-over) in the quarter-final.
FC Trent Park also received a bye in the first round. They then beat Ryefield (H 4-3) in round 2 and disposed of the cup holders, AFC Hammersmith Town (H 2-1) in round 3.
Their quarter-final opponents were Grenfell Athletic, who they beat in a penalty shoot-out, after a 1-1 away draw.
A minute’s silence was impeccably observed before the kick off, in tribute to popular veteran groundsman, Malcolm Koch, who recently passed away.
Highgate Albion dominated the match from the start. They were kept at bay by stout defending and impressive goalkeeping in the earlier stages. So, despite a series of dangerous corners and goalmouth melees, punctuated by some break-aways by Trent Park, the scoreline remained blank, until Albion scored 7 minutes before the interval. They kept up the pressure in the second period and finding it progressively easier to penetrate the Trent Park rearguard, added 4 further goals.
Solomon Ofori had the first scoring chance for Albion, after he had picked up a loose ball in the 4th minute but he was foiled by keeper John Nicholas’ diving save at his feet.
Albion netted in a goalmouth melee a minute later but the score was disallowed for a foul, following a lengthy discussion between the referee and his assistant.
Trent Park’s Zacharias Uribarri released Mario Stavrou, whose shot was cleared by Ebenezer addo-Kufuor.
Prince Kandola headed against Trent Park’s crossbar in the 15th minute.
Tage Kennedy burst through but was brought down on the right, outside the penalty box. The resultant freekick was scrambled away.
Jardell Stirling’s low drive from around 30 yards hit the foot of the visitors’ post.
Richard Ennin’s freekick from wide on the left found Alvin Kyeremeh, whose shot was saved by keeper, Jon Nicholas. Jon then saved at close range from Richard, who had been set up by Prince Kandola.
Ebenezer addo-Kufuor was fouled just outside the box and the keeper saved high from the resultant freekick taken by Alvin.
Ebenezer headed Albion into the lead from Richard Ennin’s corner in the 38th minute.
Score at half-time: Highgate Albion 1 FC Trent Park 0
Jon Nicholas saved high up from Prince Kandola’s header, following Josip Jevdjic’s corner kick.
Richard Ennin’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected by a defender for a corner.
Richard fastened onto a through ball in the 57th minute to net Albion’s 2nd goal.
The 3rd Albion goal, in the 62nd minute, was scored by Lonit Talla with a freekick for a foul just outside the penalty box. His shot evaded the defensive wall on its way low into the corner of the net.
Danny Bassett’s header was cleared off of the Trent Park goal-line.
Home custodian, Charlie Taylor saved at point-blank, from Mario Stavrou.
Jon Nicholas saved at a similar distance, from Tage Kennedy.
Danny Bassett drove narrowly wide from outside the box.
Richard Ennin worked through and netted to make the score 4-0 in the 81st minute.
Josip Jevdjic cut in from the left, to successfully finish a good Albion move, with the last kick of the match.
Final score: Highgate Albion 5 FC Trent Park 0
TEAM LINE-UPS
Highgate Albion: Charles Taylor, Josip Jevdjic, Jardell Stirling, Ebenezer addo-Kufuor, Alvin Kyeremeh, Richard Ennin, Tage Kennedy (capt), Pele Riley, Solomon Ofori, Prince Kandola and Callum Ismail.
Rolling substitutes: Danny Bassett, Lonit Talla, Excellence Muhemba, Akinola Fayoyin and Hermes Gbio.
Manager: Adam Shahein
Assistant Manager: Ian Maitland
Coach: Paul Leach.
FC Trent Park: Jon Nicholas, Leo Agathangelou, George Lingi, Stephano Chiakli, Nicholas Nicou (capt), Elias Katsoloudi, Ricky Tate, Zacharias Uribarri, Mario Stavrou, Christos Pedrithes and Niall Redguard.
Rolling substitutes: Stelios Chiotis, Matthew Johnston, Marco Kyprianou, Andreas Kyprianou and Giorgio Torre.
Manager: Stelios Chiotis.
Referee: Anthony Matthew
Assistant Referees: Nick Andrea and Funsho Obilade.
The Final between Highgate Albion and Olympia will be played at Silver Jubilee Park on Sunday, 6th April. The kick off is scheduled for 3pm.
Report: Jim Taylor
Photography: Chris Benn