East Cowes Vics reached the final of the Isle of Wight Senior (Gold) Cup for the first time in over a decade by defeating Newport in front of 361 spectators at Westwood Park yesterday evening (Tuesday).
The Victorians have not won the Gold Cup since 1989; Newport have been finalists for the past 4 seasons. Alex Smith’s record in the Gold Cup has been poor since becoming Vics manager, losing to Island League West Wight and Brading Town at the quarter final stage of the competition in the previous 2 seasons.
Smith looked for a reaction from Saturday’s defeat against Wessex Division 1 leaders New Milton Town and named an unchanged team. His side started with high tempo, and early chances fell for Josh Neale, Jacob Reynolds and Jordan Chapman, but none hit the back of the net.
Michael Thompsett came close to giving Port the lead in the 17th minute, but his header was off target.
Vics went ahead on 18 minutes after Jacob Reynolds had had a shot blocked, with the ball falling to Scott Jones, whose shot was cleared off the line, only for Aedan Coode to blast the ball past Port keeper Pitman (0-1).
Port responded with a cheeky effort from Ji Nash that failed to hit the target and a powerful strike from Joe Craig which was saved by Fraser Law.
The Victorians increased their lead in the 34th minute when Scott Jones pounced on a loose ball in the Newport penalty area before firing home through a crowd of opponents (0-2).
The 3rd goal for the East Cowes side came right on the stroke of half time when Jacob Reynolds was upended in the area, and Zak Sullivan stepped up to put the resulting spot kick past Pitman (0-3).
Half time: Newport IW 0-3 East Cowes Victoria
The 2nd half proved to be a struggle for Newport, and Henry West didn’t help the Yellows’ cause by being sin binned in the 62nd minute.
Tired Newport legs were made to work even harder, and Elliott Wheeler finished the game as a contest in the 75th minute by providing the final touch to a well-rehearsed Zak Sullivan free kick (0-4).
Captain Maca Watterson restored some pride for Port with a consolation goal (1-4), but the Vics finished the game with a well-deserved victory to take them to their 1st Gold Cup final since 2013.
Full time: Newport IW 1-4 East Cowes Victoria
Newport IW: Pitman, West, Thompsett (Walsh), Young, Watterson (c), Holbrook, Butcher, Oatley (Grace), Nash, Craig, Catania Subs: McDonough, Foster, Linington
East Cowes Victoria: Law, Snow, Boyd-Kerr, Newbold (c) (Perrin), Wheeler, Sullivan, Chapman, Coode (C. Neale), Jones, J. Neale Subs: Voller, Hart, Kirby
East Cowes Victoria will face the winner of this evening’s (Wednesday) game at Beatrice Avenue between Cowes Sports and Ventnor in the Gold Cup final, with kick-off at 19:45.
