Valley stun Traf to net Sunday Cup win

Valley pulled off the shock result of the local football season, as they stunned champions Trafalgar with a dramatic 4-3 win in an action-packed Sunday FA Cup Final at the Flamingo Land Stadium on Tuesday. Valley took the lead on the half-hour when Rich Tolliday floated a free-kick into the box, a defender and the keeper collided, and the ball dropped to Taylor Plant who headed into the empty net, writes Steve Adamson.

It then became 2-0 on 39 minutes when Jenson Bradbury laid off to Neil Forsyth, who beat two defenders before striking a shot that took a deflection and looped over Traf keeper Alex Chapman. Within two minutes Traf rallied when a Sam Pickard shot was saved by Stefan Campbell, but Kieran Link fired in the rebound. Valley then went straight down the other end, and made it 3-1 on 42 minutes, when Curtis Rose sliced the ball into his own net. Early in the second half Valley added a fourth, when skipper Danny Appleby, who had a terrific game, played the ball across the area for Tolliday to tap into the net on 53 minutes.

Traf pulled it back to 4-2 on 82 minutes with a great individual strike from Mikey Barker, who raced past two defenders before slotting past the keeper, then Joel Ramm slammed home an 88th-minute volley to make the final score 4-3. Valley’s Josh Westmoreland was man of the match.