Recreation beat Galacticos 2-1 on 05th May, so Sankey Arms knew that if they won this match that the title would be theirs. There was an attendance exceeding 90 people, most of which were new faces to the Crosfields pitch, but the veteran supporters were still there. Sankey Arms kicked off with a bang as Neil Harrison taken the ball down the wing and a perfect cross to Stu Wellstead who did what he does best and smashed it home, the goal came with only 40 seconds played which shocked some Recreation players. The match quickly turned into a midfield battle for a short while as the Recreation players got out of bed, but Stu Wellstead found the ball which was played over the top of the defence as he ran onto it he just left the defence, there was only Lee ‘tap-in’ Calland and three Recreation defenders in the box, but Calland’s clever positioning put him in place to receive the ball from Stu Wellstead and put in for a second goal on the 14th minute. Recreation instantly replied with a goal on the 15th minute by Recreations speedy number 11. More battling in midfield was to come, but Dean ‘The Commander’ Beardall kept everything under control. Beardall started a run from the edge of his area, as he got to the half-way line the referee pulled play back as a Recreation player shouted abusive language to the referee. Play continued and some Barcelona like play from the Sankey gave Dean ‘The Commander’ the ball, he played it behind Recreations defensive line to the overwhelming Stu Wellstead, who scored a pivotal goal in this match and in the overall title race. Most teams would have stopped caring about the match at this point, but the Recreation squad weren’t going to give up yet, so more midfield conflict in the middle third was to come, Recreation had the better of the Sankey Arms defence a couple of times, Karl Biggs was always there to stop any posing threats though. Dave Morgan got more and more involved in the game in the latter stages of the half, using slide-tackles to dispossess his opposition. Morgan’s slides clearly got to Scott ‘The Chopper’ Deans who hadn’t gone to ground for the best part of 35 minutes, but the peer pressure got to him and the next time the Recreation winger came into a two yard radius of Deans, he shown Morgan how to slide. Dave Morgan’s next part of possession was very skilful, he managed to run the ball to the 18 yard box and decided to share the ball to Lee Calland, who hit his 30th goal of the season. Still, Recreation refused to give up although many of the fans were prematurely celebrating the title win. As half-time dwelled, Stu Wellstead dashed past a few people and went out wide to the left, he driven it to Neil Harrison who hit it home from around 16 yards. There was only stoppage time left in the half, although referee Tomasz Kalkucki is the only referee that we have ever experienced in Sunday League who adds on the stoppages. The stoppages came to an end and that marked the end of the half. Sankey Arms 5-1 Recreation F.C.
Many Sankey Arms followers retreated to the Crosfields clubhouse at half-time. That was their own silly mistake though because they missed the first goal of the half, Lee Calland laid the ball off to Dean ‘The Commander’ Beardall who belted the ball into the back of the net on only the 46th minute. Things calmed down until Mike McPickle made an appearance, it taken only seconds for him to get into a heated argument with his opposite number. Sankey Arms then got into another midfield war with Recreation for the rest of the game. Stu Wellstead and Dave Morgan had a few disagreements with the referee, all that they got out of it though was yellow cards. After the final whistle, we lifted the trophy and had a team photo, everybody went back to the Sankey Arms pub and there was a big party for all. Now our season isn’t over lads so lets win the rest of our games and all get down to the presentation on the 15th May.
