Senior Trophy saga ends as Okeford withdraw (From Dorset Echo)

Senior Trophy saga ends as Okeford withdraw

6:10pm Thursday 7th February 2013 in Sport By David Williams, Sports Reporter

THE seemingly never ending saga of Upwey & Broadwey’s third round tie in the Dorset Senior Trophy is finally over after opponents Okeford United withdrew from the competition.

Okeford officials decided to pull out of the tournament this week following the seventh postponement of the game that was originally due to be played on December 8.

Upwey will now travel to face Dorset League Division One side Milborne Sports in round four tomorrow (1.30pm) with manager Steve Reynolds just happy that his men finally look like they have a match to play.

As far as Okeford are concerned, Reynolds can see why they chose to withdraw from the trophy given that they have played so few league fixtures this season – Upwey are in the same boat too.

“I don’t blame them for pulling out,” Reynolds told Echosport. “It was a little bit of a surprise but it’s understandable.

“They’ve played one less league game than us so they probably thought they’d never finish their fixtures.

“At the end of the season they are going to be playing a lot and having to travel and it’s the same for us because if we win tomorrow we’ll have to play the next round the weekend after.

“We’ve got so many away games left and those are going to be played in the evenings so with travelling it’s going to be a problem getting players.

“I think we can write the season off and just let the players go on holiday at the end of it and get ready for next season.”

In the Dorset Senior League, Weymouth Sports go to Gillingham Town Reserves (2pm) trying to build on their 3-3 draw with Portland United Reserves last time out.

But they will come up against a side that smashed eight past Stourpaine last Saturday and are comfortably in second place in the table.

After coming back from 3-1 down at Portland, Sports co-manager Chris Hicks is hoping his side’s campaign can gather some momentum.

“It was a good comeback and I was pleased with the result,” he said.

“The lads started to believe when we got the second and, after we scored our third, we had chances to win it but a draw was a fair result.

“We’ll be able to stick with the same set of lads tomorrow and probably go with the usual 4-4-2 formation though, we could change it like we did on Saturday.

“Their side is a lot different to what it was last year and they are on a very good run so it will be difficult.

“But our confidence is higher than it would have been if we’d lost on Saturday. It would have been a kick in the teeth if we’d lost 3-1 because we played well in the second half.

“We need to take that on now and build a bit of momentum.”

As for Portland, they visit Piddletrenthide United (2pm) knowing a win could see them move into the top four.