Lyndhurst FC produced a brave second-half rally to snatch cup glory away from underdogs Locksley Sports in the Southampton FA Senior Cup Final last night.
In a tight encounter at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium, Locks-ley held a surprise 1-0 lead at half-time and looked to have the game under control, but their hard work was undone by two second-half Lyndhurst strikes.
Lyndhurst manager Andy Tipp was delighted to have won the trophy for the first time in the club's 120-year history, but admitted that Locksley had given his team quite a scare.
He said: "The lads are over the moon. We left it a bit late and made hard work of it, but at the end of the day we've done the job and that's all that matters.
"I think in the end we deserved to scrape it, but they came and they gave us a good game today.
"They gave us a shock in all honesty. I think most of us thought we would just turn up and walk all over them today, but it didn't quite happen like that."
Locksley manager Joe Kirkpatrick was understandably disappointed, but was pleased with his team's efforts.
He said: "At one-nil we were comfortable and they didn't look like creating, but I'd say in the last ten or 15 minutes their fitness showed a little bit and they started coming back.
"We had a couple of good chances, we let in two stupid goals and our goalkeeper didn't really have a save to make, but we gave a good account of ourselves.
"It was a brilliant day, though - it has been really great."
Locksley began the game the brighter of the two sides and were almost in front in the fifth minute when Billy Cozens latched on to goalkeeper Lee Bowers' enormous goal kick, which was misjudged by the Lyndhurst defence, but Tony Sanders came out of his goal well to save on the edge of his area.
Locksley continued to look the better side in the first half, with Adam Deacon a commanding presence at the back, and it was no surprise to see them take the lead in the 28th minute.
A long ball from defence fell to Cozens in space in the penalty area and although his shot across goal was poor it ended up being a perfect ball for Scott Turner, who slid in to knock it home from six yards.
Lyndhurst's best moment of the half came straight after the goal when Marc Price cut inside from the left and beat two players before squaring to Steve Eyles on the edge of the box, but he spurned the opportunity to shoot in favour of an intricate pass that rolled straight through to Bowers in the Locksley goal.
Locksley almost scored a deserved second right on half-time when Danny Ferris found room on the edge of the box, but his ferocious volley was deflected inches over the bar.
Lyndhurst picked up their game in the second half, passing the football around much more confidently and looking solid defensively, as Nick Cremin and man-of-the-match winner Simon Edwicker began to get to grips with the Locksley attack.
Lyndhurst's substitution of Mike Storer for Price just after the hour helped gain control of the midfield and in the 66th minute they were level.
Glen Maidment found Eyles on the edge of the box, who shaped to shoot but instead rolled the ball into Ben Harrison, who turned his man and fired past Bowers into the bottom corner.
The goal rattled Locksley, who had looked fairly comfortable to that point, and it took only five minutes before Lyndhurst grabbed the winner.
Maidment's corner was met by Cremin at the back post and, although his powerful header was blocked, the ball found its way to Wayne Allen in the ensuing goalmouth scramble and he fired home from six yards to secure the trophy.
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