CUP FINAL PREVIEW: Premier Division Cup and Division 4 Cup Finals

This Sunday marks our fourth and final weekend of cup finals as we head to Thurrock FC for another busy day of football comprising the Premier Division Cup and Division 4 Cup finals.

All of our showpiece cup finals take place at Thurrock FC’s wonderful Ship Lane ground, just a stone’s throw from the M25/A13 & Lakeside. There will be bar and refreshment facilities available on the day which you are all welcome to make use of.

All of the clubs involved have been allocated tickets which they are required to sell so please contact your clubs for tickets in the first instance. We also have a supply of tickets on the turnstile on the day at a cost of £5 each.

We now look ahead to each of the games and provide some insight into who might be crowned cup winners on Sunday.

Premier Division Cup Final – 10.30am Kick-Off
Flanders vs Romford Elite

The morning final brings together two of the league’s Premier Division sides with Flanders taking part in their first final and up against the experienced Romford Elite who have been at this stage on a fair few occasions, both sides being ultra-keen to earn themselves the silverware.

For Flanders, it has been a season of mixed results as the East Ham based side have saved their best performances this year for the cup competitions, making the quarter-finals of the Corinthian Cup along with their place in the divisional cup final this weekend crowning a decent season. In the league, despite being fifth in the table, they have only lost three matches but five draws out of eleven has cost them points that could have seen them challenge for league honours with a little more luck. Nonetheless they managed to finish in the top four of the group stage in the competition to secure a place in the semi-finals where they took on Repton Park, a side already crowned Corinthian Cup winners earlier in the month. In that semi-final, it took seven goals to separate the sides with Flanders edging through in a 4-3 victory. Shomari Barnwell done the majority of the damage with a hat-trick adding to Leon Lewis’ effort to send their side to Thurrock. Shomari’s experience at the top level of the game and his penchant for finding the back of the net sees him as the man to watch for his team with a haul of 15 goals so far in just 14 matches making him a dangerous prospect.

As we peer into the away dressing room on Sunday, we find a Romford Elite in their second spell with the Corinthian League and still with an outside shout of winning a league and cup double in their first season back. In the league, they presently sit in third place with three games to go but with a two games against their closest rivals for the title, Warren United, still to play, it is still very much in the balance as to who that title heads to. In this cup competition this year, they recorded three wins and a draw from their five group stage matches to finish second and secure a home semi-final berth where they took on Warren United. That semi-final proved to be an absolute thriller of a match with Elite squeezing through by the odd goal in nine by winning 5-4. Goals from Ben Bickford, Gabriel Ogunwomoju, Joshua Thompson and Chris Bird were enough to send the side to Thurrock on Sunday. Chris Bird has been soaring away at the top of the Elite goal scorers chart with 21 goals this term which, coupled with Joshua Thompson’s 17 goal haul marks this pair as the men to watch in the Romford side which favours attacking football.

The league matches between these sides both took place last weekend with a double header seeing both matches end in a 3-3 scoreline which suggests that these two sides are very well matched indeed. Three points separated these sides in the group stage of the competition while Elite’s nine-point advantage in the league added to their experience of the big occasion probably marks them as the bookies favourites going into the match. But a Flanders side with plenty of non-league experience in their ranks cannot be underestimated and this match will be an intriguing one from the outset.

Congratulations to our appointed match officials on this final, a reward for the continued hard work put in by our referees across the season. Mark Pond is the man with the whistle on Sunday and will be ably supported by the recently promoted Ivo Komsiyski and the vastly experienced Simeon Joseph who complete our trio of men in black.

Division 4 Cup Final – 2.30pm Kick-Off
Thames Ironworks Community vs Central Colts

The afternoon final on Sunday sees the top two sides in Division Four meet as Thames Ironworks Community and Central Colts go head-to-head to secure the final piece of cup silverware this season with Central Colts looking to secure part two of a possible treble this season.

For Thames Ironworks Community, a side built very much around their joint passion for West Ham United and their former identity under this very name, this weekend’s cup final marks the high point of a very solid first season as a club as they continue their chase of a promotion finish in the league. A win in their remaining league game this season, also against Central Colts in May, would also guarantee a top-two place in the league having won thirteen of their nineteen league matches so far this year. Their run in the Division Four Cup competition started with a thumping opening win in the quarter-finals against Bata United, winning 7-0 to set up a semi-final away at Highams Park Royals. In that semi-final, it proved to be a tightly contested match with Thames coming away 3-2 victors to confirm their place at Thurrock this Sunday. Danny Child scored twice in that game with Reece Lewis getting the third to send their side through. Reece Lewis will also be the man to look out for in the Thames ranks as the goal scoring supremo of the side having netted 21 goals in just 17 appearance this season. Midfielder Theo Towli’s nine-goals mark him as another player who likes to pinch a goal here and there.

Taking on Thames on Sunday is the juggernaut of Central Colts who have so far blown away all and sundry before them having already secured the first piece of a possible treble this season with the Spring Cup in the bag from last Sunday. With promotion already secured in the league and realistically just a point needed to take the title outright, they will be eager to secure their second piece of silverware this Sunday when they face their closest rivals. In a reverse of fortunes, it was in this final last season that they faced an SL Menfica side who were on the cusp of a treble themselves with Colts on the wrong of a defeat that day. How different twelve months can prove in this wonderful sport! Their run in this competition began with an 8-2 victory away at Newham Athletic in the quarter-finals of the competition which set up a place in the semi-finals against Oak Royals. In that match, they had to overcome a plucky Royals outfit who fought back well in that game, but a 5-3 win saw them safely through to Sunday’s cup final. As with their previous final, the man to watch is the beast himself, Tunde Olagunju, who has now scored 41 goals this term and leads the way for the golden boot.

Looking at how the sides might fare, the early season league match between these two sides saw them finish level at 1-1 before a further meeting in the semi-final of the Spring Cup competition where another close match was edged by Colts in a 2-1 victory. Based on these results, expect this match to be a tight contest on the day with little between the sides. Given the free-flowing nature of Central Colts football and having the highest goalscorer amongst their ranks probably places them as favourites. But Thames appear to be ready to rise to the big occasion and take the tag of party-poopers and shouldn't be underestimated. You have to imagine this one going all the way.

Congratulations to our appointed match officials on this final, a reward for the continued hard work put in by our referees across the season. The experienced Farai Hallam is the man with the whistle in the middle and will be ably supported by Mark Goddard and Sam Higgins from the touchlines.