LA MANO DE DIOS 86 0, SEVEN ALLSTARS 1.

SEVEN ALLSTARS made it a league and cup double as they won the Norman Simmons Senior Cup over nine man La Mano De Dios 86.

La Mano were looking to gain quick revenge for their defeat the previous Sunday which saw the Malvern Football League championship go to their rivals Seven AllStars, who themselves were looking to repeat their championship/cup double for the second consecutive season and retain the cup they had won for the past two seasons.

In front of a sizeable crowd, and on a hot, sunny evening it proved to be a very tight contest with Seven AllStars eventually winning with a first-half strike.

La Mano had the better of the early play and thought they had gone ahead in the 10th minute but James Dean’s close-range header was ruled out for offside.

Four minutes later, La Mano’s Zeki Koral put Neil Gardiner through but he shot over the advancing Adam McTear and also just over the crossbar.

With the sides knowing each other well there was a lot of effort and hard work but not too much flowing football as they cancelled each other out.

La Mano were awarded a free-kick 25 yards out three minutes before the interval. Joel Skyers saw his well-struck effort deflected just over the bar for a corner which resulted in the ball being cleared.

In the 45th minute there came what turned out to be the defining moment of the game. Following a scuffle just inside the La Mano half, Koral was sent off for violent conduct.

Even worse was to follow when the resultant free-kick found the head of the League’s top goalscorer Jamie James and he made no mistake to send the AllStars in at half-time with a narrow lead.

La Mano came out for the second-half in a battling mood despite being a man down. They almost pulled the scores level in the 48th-minute when, following a corner, Skyers saw his goalbound shot cleared off the line by Adrian Jones.

The game followed a similar pattern to the first-half with chances few and far between in the match played on Sunday at Ledbury Town’s New Street ground. In the 60th minute, AllStars’ James picked up the ball in his own half before going on a surging run and it was only a last-ditch tackle from Ian Merrick.

which prevented him increasing his side’s lead.

La Mano did not give up and man-of-the-match AllStars Scott Roberts made several timely tackles to break down attacks.

La Mano’s hopes appeared to have totally evaporated when, in the 82nd minute, Neil Gardiner deliberately bought down Tim Rutherford with a rash challenge to earn a second yellow card and the subsequent red which meant La Mano were down to nine men.

Despite this they battled right up to the end and in the last minute they earned a corner which saw their keeper Adrian Hodges racing upfield to the AllStars area, as the ball broke free AllStars did eventually put it into the unguarded net only for the off-side flag to be raised and rule out the goal.