Ambleside Utd finished a memorable season by winning the Mason and Freeman Cup by beating Ullswater Utd 2 - 1 at Kirkby Lonsdale last night. A large crowd including many of past Ambleside players were entertained by a hard fought match between two good teams.
Ullswater Utd took the lead early in the game when joint league top scorer Tom Graham opened the scoring. Ambleside Utd created chances in the 1st half but were unable to get an equaliser.
Throughout the 2nd half Ambleside Utd were clearly the better team though Ullswater were always dangerous. The equaliser came midway through the 2nd half with a great strike from Alex Jackson ( joint league top scorer ) and a fine solo goal from James Bowen saw Ambleside Utd take a 2 - 1 lead . The goal sparking joyous celebrations from both players and spectators. In the remaining minutes Ullswater pressured the Ambleside defence but they held firm.
Hard to name a MOM as all the squad contributed but was impressed by young goalkeeper Baxter Oliver who joined the club recently.
The league season started well with the team winning their first 4 games followed by mixed results winning 3 but losing 5 of their next 8 matches. A great finish to the season saw the team win their last 6 matches including beating League winners Kirkoswald Res on their own patch and winning 3 cup matches so to finish runners up in the league losing out to Kirkoswald by 1 point and winning the Mason and Freeman Cup.
Alex Jackson with 25 goals and James Bowen with 14 goals both bettered their last seasons tally.
Players availability for matches has been its best for a long time so the team were able to have a regular squad of about 16 players to choose from most weeks. The number of young players in the squad plus the experienced players made it a well balanced side.
Not going to mention any particular player as the whole squad gave 100% throughout the season.
Congratulations to manager Graham Routledge who has worked tirelessly both with the squad and with the pitch preparation giving us surely one of the best playing surfaces in the league. Through past experience I know that at our level the managers job does not just entail selecting a team but involves many other jobs to ensure that everything goes smoothly at training and on match days , so thanks again Graham for all your work.
Chairman Dan Nevinson has also done a tremendous amount of work for the club not only this year but for many a past year.
Thanks also to Club sponsors - The Lily bar, Beetham and Dean and The Inn Collection Group.