Premier League Cup Final, Burn Valley 4 Lion Hillcarter 0: Silverware-chasing Lion suffered not only a defeat but a thrashing to an excellent Burn Valley in the final of the Premier League Cup.
Having already lost out in the Durham County Cup and the play-off decider with Rovers for the league title, Lion missed out on silverware again when they were thrashed by Burn Valley.
In a stormy encounter, referee Billy Reid sent off two Lion players and the result was never in doubt as Burn Valley steamrollered their normally rock-solid opponents.
Valley took an early lead when Neil Hay capitalised on a defensive error to ram the ball past Simon Corbett in the Lion goal.
Lion came back into the match and forced Stephen Jewson into several good saves.
Mr Reid then dismissed a Lion player in the opening stages of the second half and not long after the lead was doubled by Hay who cashed in on hesitance in the Lion defence.
Corbett then brought down a Valley forward and Andrew Watts stroked home the resulting penalty to kill off any lingering hopes Lion may have had.
With Lion looking jaded due to their heavy end of season schedule, Corbett then made another rash challenge which resulted in a red card and reduced Lion to nine men.
Watts completed the rout with Burn Valley's fourth of the game.
John Dowson Cup Final
Seaton Holy Trin. 1 Lion Hillcarter 2
Finally some deserved silverware for Lion - but only after some wonderful fighting spirit from cup minnows Seaton Holy Trinity.
Second Division champions Seaton, who have shocked many sides this campaign, were expected to be steamrollered by the mighty Lion.
But, they were made to fight all the way by a Seaton side who had Graham Swinburne in brilliant form in goal.
Lion took an early advantage when Kevin Allen was on hand to score and many felt that was the cue for Lion to go goal-crazy.
Swinburne was having none of it though and time after time pulled off save after save to keep Lion at bay.
Midway through the second period, Seaton's pluck and guile were rewarded when Mike Gough was unfortunate to put the ball into his own net and score the equaliser.
Lion hit back and just as extra time beckoned, up popped Andrew Allen to break Seaton hearts and give the cup to Lion.
First Division Cup Final
Nursery 3 Odessa 2 (aet)
A great advert for First Division football which saw Nursery triumph.
Odessa had the better of the argument in the first half and it was no surprise when their sparkling football was rewarded with a goal.
Shaun Winwood let fly with a speculative 20-yard effort, which flew into the net, giving Paul Hackwell no chance in the Nursery net.
Paul Martin then left Odessa in delight as he doubled the lead just before the break,to leave Nursery seemingly dead and buried.
Nursery were having none of it, however, and came out a different side when the referee blew for the start of the second half.
Within five minutes, Nursery had pulled a goal back due to an unfortunate clanger from Gary Brown, the Odessa keeper.
Nursery then levelled the scores after another defensive mistake, before John Crane almost won it for Odessa, beating three players before having his shot saved.
In extra time, both sides had chances to win the game, but it was Nursery who took the cup after a fine lob over the keeper made the final score 3-2.
Man-of-the-match was Karl Johnson, while for Nursery, Karl Fraser was outstanding.
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