Bromyard Town travelled to the Beehive Stadium at Studley for the final of the Smedley Crooke Memorial Cup and became the first club from the West Midlands League to appear in a final.

BROMYARD TOWN 3, SHIRLEY TOWN 2

The competition has been held since 1919 and was named after the MP who donated the trophy in memory of all sportsmen lost in the 1914-18 war.

Bromyard started briskly against their Midland Combination Premier Division opponents and within two minutes top scorer Luke Willetts turned provider to pass a long ball through to Gordie Beauchamp, who calmly lobbed the ball over the advancing Shirley Town keeper and into the net.

Almost straight from the re-start, Gordie Beauchamp raced down the far side, crossed the ball to the waiting Willetts, but it was met by a Shirley defender who put the ball into the back of his own net.

Bromyard continued to press the Shirley side, but failed to score again in the first half. But frustration seemed to be showing in some of the Shirley players with one or two needless tackles and the Bromyard physio Eric Birch was kept busy, especially with the Bromyard keeper Jamie Lambert getting flattened just before half time.

After the break, keeper Lambert was unable to continue and Darryl Gormley took over between the posts.

Shirley Town started to dominate during the second half and in the 60th minute a mix up in the Bromyard defence allowed the Shirley top scorer Ricky Martin to slot home their first goal.

Shirley Town continued to press for the equaliser, but when Jon Jenkins cleared the ball over the top of the Shirley defence, Gordie Beauchamp again took the ball into the corner, slipped his marker and slid the ball under the diving keeper to restore Bromyard's two goal lead.

Shirley Town again fought back and with five minutes to go, Jon Jenkins was robbed of the ball and the resulting shot was unsighted by the stand-in keeper and Shirley Town closed the gap again.

The remaining few minutes were tense as Shirley Town pressed hard to try and force extra time, but the outstanding defence led by captain Chris Billings and aided by Dave Kearney held on for a fine victory, Bromyard Town winning 3-2.