A frenetic and frantic contest somehow ended 0-0 and Bevendean- having hit the woodwork three times- were indebted to goalkeeper Aaron Marchant for a string of superb stops including two in the subsequent shootout.

Marchant denied Mitchell Hamilton and Shane Hodgkins from the spot as his ten man team won the competition for the first time in their short history.

Jubilant manager Stephen Tugwell felt his side warranted their win, and said:

“Without wishing to sound big-headed or disrespectful, I thought we were class.
“We're top of our league, we've won this and are playing AFC in another cup final so we've still got a chance of the treble.
“We know they're a good side, our goalkeeper made some very good saves but I felt we deserved to win over the 90 minutes and I backed our lads when we got to penalties.
“The red card was fifty-fifty, he took one for the team but we stayed tight, it didn't cost us and it's always fantastic to get silverware in the bag.”

AFC started brightly and put their opponents under early pressure, with Marchant having to be at his best in the opening exchanges.

He thwarted Max Jeffery and Jack Dickens in quick succession before Hamilton fired wide and John Tibbs went close at the other end before Mark Golding picked up a caution for a lunge.

Marchant saved well from Hamilton and Shane Gregory lashed across goal when well-placed but the Bevendean stopper continued to earn his quorn.

He denied Omar Sattar from close range and then tipped away Hamilton's angled effort in an increasingly personal dual between the two.

Having weathered a first half storm, Bevendean began to find the upper hand and went close through Brad King and John Tibbs before Ross Smith rattled an effort off the crossbar.

Marchant saved again from a now frustrated Hamilton but Bevendean came on strong and looked the more likely as thoughts turned towards extra-time.

Smith struck the bar for a second time with a 25-yarder but there was a late twist in the tale as Golding was given his marching orders for a second booking having hauled down Jeffrey when clean through.

Marchant continued to defy AFC and made the best save of the bunch to keep out substitute Gary Rook but, incredibly, Bevendean then hit the woodwork for a third time at the other end.

King rifled against the post having been picked out by Ryan Murray but, in an increasingly stretched encounter, both sides had chances to win the game before penalties.

A stunning save from the outstanding Marchant denied Rook from six yards, before his opposite number Paul Wood was called into action when Murray was one-on-one.

That proved to be the final action and paved the way for the lottery of a shootout.

Woods saved from Craig Teeney but Smith, Reece Baker, Grant Coulson and Murray all scored for Bevendean.

Darren Mansell converted for AFC, as did Rook, but Marchant encapsulated a man of the match performance with saves from Hamilton and Hodgkins to put his side's name on the trophy.

(Photographs from the match can be found on Facebook)

Stats (AFC-Bevendean): Goals (0-0), Shots (24-19), On Target (16-9), Corners (6-5), Offsides
(3-3), Fouls (15-8), Bookings (1-2), Sent off (0-1)

AFC 2015: Wood; E South, Hodgkins, Brown, Knee; Matthews, Dickens, Gathern; Jeffery, Sattar, Hamilton. Subs: Rook (Sattar 60), Mansell (E South 114), Rose, Welch, I South

BEVENDEAN ATHLETIC: Marchant; Turner, Gregory, Golding, R Murray; Tibbs, Baker, Clarke, Teeney; Smith, King. Subs: Coulson (Clarke 48), Murphy (King 83), Wakefield, J Marchant, Seeney. 

Match report by Jamie Spoor
Photographs courtesy of Simon Roe