Buoyed by an early goal, the Saints then profited from the sending off of Ben Doherty, ten minutes before the interval, before adding second period goals from substitute Dave Hughes and Matt Scriven.Saints manager Colin Pack said: ‘We deserved it overall although neither side played particularly well and the sending off helped us as their player was giving us problems before he was sent off.’The longer the game went on the better we became.
Goalkeeper Fabio Fernandes made one excellent save in the first half while Rozel only had a few chances after that as Jason Frazer led our defence well with another solid performance.’We had the ascendency after the red card and Rozel struggled a bit with the pace of Scriven and substitute Hughes.’Rozel manager Kevin Ganly said: ‘Technically the referee was right with his decision but I felt it was a little harsh because my player swore at a team-mate.’Going down to ten did spoil the game but full credit to St Clement, they are a good side and they were the better team throughout.
We’ll now go back to our league and cup and hopefully we can get back to Springfield again later in the season in our divisional cup competition.’St Clement went a goal up in the opening minutes when John Molloy, on a back post, nodded home Jason Mundy’s corner kick from the left.Doherty’s pace on the right gave St Clement’s defence a few problems and one shot from the forward brought a fine save out of Fernandes.Minutes into the second half, after Doherty’s departure, St Clement went two-up when substitute Hughes got through Rozel’s defence before hitting the target with a powerful rising shot.Scriven side-footed home St Clement’s third in the closing minutes after Jason Mundy pulled the ball into his path after getting behind Rozel’s defence.St Clement’s only previous Willis Cup final victory was back in 1983 when a member of last night’s opposition, Jerry O’Shea, played in a 3-2 success against Jersey Wanderers.St Clement: Fabio Fernandes; Chris Young, Paul Singh, Jason Frazer, David Heaven, Matt Porter, Jason Mundy, John Molloy, Robin Pitcher, Matt Scriven, Tom Cummins.
Subs used: Dave Hughes, Mark Freeman, Michael Ruane.Cautioned: Molloy.Rozel Rovers: Steve Falle; Jerry O’Shea, Andy Godfray, Karl Megaw, Bruce Bell, Dave Reid, Anthony McGovern, Dave Brennan, David Nolan, Ben Doherty, Tony Zonfrillo.
Subs used: Stuart Siddall, Paul Roberts, Clive Malone.Sent off: Doherty.
Cautioned: Reid.Officials: Ray Sutcliffe, Dave Goldsmith, Garry Poole and Neil Giannoni.
