Skegness Town vs Wellingborough Town
Skegness Town came from behind to beat Premier Division South champions Wellingborough
Town 2-1 at the JRL Brickworth Stadium, home of Harrowby United, to become United Counties
League Cup champions. A second half strike from Callum Milne was cancelled out by goals
from Elliot Brougton and Scott Floyd as Skegness came away with the trophy.
The first chance of the game came for Skegness. Gary King from the left side took aim from
outside the box but his low shot found the side netting.
Another chance came for Skegness just after the half an hour mark. Scott Floyd floated a free
kick into the box from the right side which found an unmarked Ben Davison and his header from
close range went over the bar. A big chance going begging for Davison who you would have
thought that he would find the back of the net with such a huge chance.
That was it for the first half with the score at 0-0. Skegness were the better of the two sides but
ultimately couldn’t take their chances. Wellingborough struggled to create anything clear cut in
the opening 45 and needed to improve if they wanted to cap off a brilliant season with another
trophy.
Into the second half, it was Wellingborough who came close first. Top scorer Nemiah
Richard-Noel got onto the end of a bouncing ball and his powerful shot from the right was saved
onto the post by Caleb Pipes-Goulsbra. The forward had already scored 40 league goals this
season and was looking to add one in this crucial final.
From the resulting corner, Wellingborugh took the lead. A shorter corner routine was sent into
the box and met by defender Kiantay Mullings who’s header towards goal was forced in by
Callum Milne from close range. Milne, who had just one goal to his name before the game,
coming up at a key time for the Premier Division South Champions with the goal coming just six
minutes into the second half.
Skegness were soon level through a wonder strike. A corner was poorly dealt with by keeper
Dean Love which was cleared off the line only as far as Elliot Brougton who’s shot from distance
found the top left corner. A superb strike from Brougton which opened his account for the
season on Skegness’ final outing of the season.
Ten minutes after finding the equaliser, Skegness were awarded a penalty after Mullings was
deemed to handle the ball after making a block. Scott Floyd stood up to take the penalty and
saw his effort saved by goalkeeper Love but he was on hand to stick away the rebound to give
Skegness the lead.The Lillywhites were not the favourites heading into the final but took what
was probably a deserve lead with Wellingborough not showing their best performance.
Wellingborough then had a huge chance to send the game to penalties. A ball got sent in behind
the Skegness defence which found Brett Solhkon in front of goal but he dragged his shot wide
of the far post.
That was the final action of the game as Skegness were crowned United Counties League Cup
champions. A memorable afternoon for Chris Rawlinson’s men and a much better turn in events
from their 7-0 play off final defeat to Loughborough Students at the end of April. They will look to
go even further next season on this season’s fifth place finish in the Premier Division North and
this cup final victory can give them a reason to show why they can be up there again.A
disappointing afternoon for Wellingborough who had the chance to add another trophy to the
cabinet this season. They only suffered four league defeats this season but ultimately couldn’t
find a way from defeat in the final. They will look forward to a summer break after winning
promotion as champions as they look ahead to a new division for the next campaign.
Written by Kian Harper
