FA County Youth Cup Final
Kent (1) 1 Cliff 40
Birmingham (1) 2 Johnson 4, Doyle 82
Att. 992
Entrance: £3
Programme: £2
Mileage: 45/8,130
Match Report
In the extreme likelihood that Gillingham were to return to Rochdale within the next week, I decided to give today’s game at Spotland a miss and with Tonbridge failing make the Ryman Play-off Final, I had to a choice of matches to go to.In the end, a familiar journey and a seducing £3 entrance fee took me to Gillingham for the FA County Youth Cup Final between Kent, who were playing their first final for 27 years and Birmingham at a sun-drenched Priestfield Stadium.
The event had all the trappings of a FA Final with the teams being presented to FA dignitaries and the national anthem being played before kick off.
In amongst the near-1,000 attendance were a raucous bunch of friends of Bromley’s Pat Taylor, singing out his name. Unfortunately, within four minutes they witnessed an error from the central defender that allowed Birmingham to open the scoring. Taylor recovered from the setback to enjoy a reasonable game.
Dartford keeper, Deren Ibrahim, small in stature but with an impressive kick, launched one such punt forward that left Ebbsfleet’s Sam Cliff one-on-one with a much taller Birmingham central defender who badly misjudged the flight of the ball. Cliff ran on to finish clinically to leave the scores level at the break.
The hot sunshine took its toll in the second half and the pace and skill level of the game dropped accordingly. A stalemate looked favourite until four minutes from time when Kent were caught out by a set piece winner for the Brummies.
There was enough time for a reckless challenge by Harry Harding to spark a brawl and a sending off for his trouble. It was a sad and unnecessary way for Kent’s final to end.
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