Chichester overcome local rivals to win RUR Cup
Chichester City saw off fierce rivals Pagham 4-0 at the Sussex County FA HQ in Culver Road to win the Sussex Principal RUR Charity Cup.
Jimmy Wild scored two of the goals in the first-half and Dave Herbert repeated his feat after the break as City ran riot and Pagham ended well-beaten.
For Chi it was revenge for a 5-0 drubbing Pagham handed them in the league at Oaklands Park on Boxing Day, but in truth it was a final between two sides who have had fine seasons.
There was an early fright for Chi when a long free-kick into the box was not collected by Ant Ender, though he did get a touch to concede a corner, which the keeper himself dealt with.
Lions left-back Ryan Cox got forward for a shot across Ender's goal but it was always going wide.
Lloyd Rowlatt fired in a free-kick from 25 yards straight at Ender - but Pagham had certainly had the brighter start.
Chi's best chance of the opening exchanges came on 16 minutes when Ellis Martin's long diagonal free-kick into the box fell to Steve Hutchings, but his touch wasn't enough to beat Lions keeper James Binfield.
Just as the crowd were thinking the game was becoming rather scrappy, Wild gave City the lead. He received the ball from a quick throw and produced a lovely touch and shot from 25 yards that flew past Binfield into the top corner.
Not surprisingly that gave Miles Rutherford's men a lift and Dolcetti started to look like he wanted to control things. Gradually, though, Pagham started to threaten, with a couple of low balls into the City box giving the defenders something to think about.
It was 2-0 on the half-hour thanks to a goal out of nowhere. Ben Pashley launched a clearance down the City left and Hutchings latched on it and squared to Wild. He took a touch and went down as Joe Booker put a foot in - and picked himself up to fire in the spot-kick.
The second goal did seem to deflate Pagham a little and the game hit a bit of a lull.
The match was becoming niggly with plenty of fouls breaking up the play - perhaps not surprising between two sides who are such strong rivals.
Ellis Martin almost let Pagham in for a goal back in the final minute of the first-half when he made hard work of a cross, but Chi survived.
Ryan Davidson forced Ender into a sharp save when he headed Andy Chick's free-kick towards goal. Ender picked up an injury in making the save and needed several minutes of treatment for what appeared to be a chest or rib injury.
Pagham pressed at the start of the second-half but were soon undone by Chi's third. A long ball was flicked on by Wild and Herbert held off the attentions of a defender to poke it past Binfield as the keeper came out to narrow the angle.
Wild had the ball in the net again a few minutes later when he smashed a shot past Binfield from 18 yards but the whistle had blown for a foul on a defender.
Howard Neighbour was close to pulling one back for the Lions when he pounced on a blocked Davidson header from a corner but his effort was thwarted by Ender, who seemed to have recovered from the injury he had picked up before the break.
At the other end Hutchings headed a left-sided cross just over. Then it turned into a battle of bookings and substitutions. To say the second-half was disjointed was rather an under-statement.
If the game wasn't over as a contest by this stage, it was on 67 minutes as a cross from the left was clinically fired in by the left foot of Herbert, joining Wild on two goals for the night.
The goal-scorers almost teamed up to good effect on 81 minutes, Herbert crossing for Wild but the former Bognor and Worthing man was unable to get anything on it. Then Wild set up Sam Ndlovu, who slipped at the crucial moment.
City were attacking at will by this stage although Herbert was well off-target with another drive from 22 yards.
Cox picked up a second booking and a red card in injury time for a late tackle on Kieran Hartley before Herbert blasted high and wide from the angle of the box as he sought a hat-trick. Wild had a go too, but was wide with a shot of his own.
Four minutes were added on and both sides were just going through the motions by the end and the whistle signalled the start of some big City celebrations.
(A selection of photographs can be found on Facebook - courtesy of Simon Roe Photography)
(Video highlights are available above and also on YouTube - courtesy of FilmMyMatch)
Stats: (Chichester City-Pagham)
Goals: 4-0; Shots: 17-5; Shots-on-target: 8-2; Corners: 3-3; Fouls: 20-23; Offside: 1-5; Yellow cards: 5-3; Red cards: 0-1.
Chichester City: Ender, Hartley, French, Martin, Lee, Pashley, Herbert, Hegarty, Wild, S. Hutchings, Dolcetti.
Subs: Williams, R. Hutchings, Haitham, Ndlovu, Kanjanda.
Pagham: Binfield, Kilhams, Cox, Davidson, Booker, Horncastle, Thurgar, Chick, Neighbour, Rowlatt, Overton.
Subs: Simmonds, Wollers, Van Driel, Lewis, Bingham.
Match report by Steve Bone (Chichester Observer)