| Gadeside Rangers celebrated being champions of the Olympian league for the second successive season after beating Headstone Athletic - the only side who could have stopped them by three goals to nil. The result, which was the leagues final game of the season means Gadeside win the league by three points to Old Danes who finished second. |
| This was a game full of incident and Gadeside took an early lead when Tom Shurville won the ball on the box and hit a low drive which found its way into the bottom corner though the Headstone keeper will know he should have done better. The hosts enjoyed a spell of possession midway through the first half which the league topscorer Brian Jones looking dangerous. However the possession couldn't be converted into chances and Tom Oliver in the Gadeside goal was relatively untroubled. The game exploded to life on the half hour mark when midfield titans Tom Shurville and Danny Appiah clashed after Shurville had cynically fouled Appiah. The Headstone man then reacted and threw punches at Justyn Walcott who had intervened and tried to split them up. Referee Harradine sent Appiah from the field of play but also gave Walcott his marching orders for apparent violent conduct; Harradine's second abysmal decision in this fixture after awarding Headstone a penalty in the league game at Westfield after Jay Evans had won the ball and not even touched his man. |
| Headstone struggled in the midfield after Appiah's departure but still looked lively going forward. Jones' thought he had equalised when his free kick seemed destined for the far corner but Tom Oliver made up a huge amount of ground to superbly tip the ball round the post. It was again Headstone who started the better in the second half with Jimmy Devine proving a threat. Harris saw a long range free kick turned over by Tom Oliver but it was as close as Headstone came as Gadeside finished the game strongly. Campbell twice fired wide when well placed and Tom Shurville somehow missed the target after dancing his way through the Headstone defence. Gadeside did double the lead on 68 minutes with a goal out of the top drawer. Russ Popplewell and Daniel Brooks combined on the left before setting up Danny Everritt on the edge of the box hit a rising drive into the top corner leaving the keeper with no chance. |
| Gadeside looked like scoring every time they went forward hitting Headstone on the break. Brooks and Campbell fired over while Ben Higginson and Tariq Khan seemed to get in each others way when bearing down on goal. But it was the wing forward who grabbed the final goal beating a couple of defenders before smashing home from close range. The final whistle sparked the celebrations with the champagne flowing as Gadeside completed the first part of what they hope will be a double-double. |
| Tom Oliver, Ian Freeman, Justyn Walcott, Matt Evans, Ed Shurville, Tom Shurville, Tariq Khan, Kevin Putman (Daniel Brooks), Tom Mitchell (Danny Everritt), Dan Campbell, Russ Popplewell (Ben Higginson) |