Worksop Town win silverware at Hillsborough

Worksop beat Penistone Church 5-0 in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup final.

Worksop Town ended the season with a trophy at Hillsborough, beating Penistone Church 5-0 in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup final.

Liam Hughes scored a brace on the night, with Vaughan Redford, Terry Hawkridge and Jordan Burrow all adding their names to the scoresheet.

After a quiet opening 10 minutes, Hughes fired Worksop into the lead with an expertly dispatched volley into the bottom left corner following a clipped cross from Luke Hall.

Within minutes, Hall nearly added a second after a succession of flick ons from Jordan Burrow and Hughes set him free down the left flank. The winger then volleyed towards the near post and forced a smart stop from Penistone ‘keeper Harry Ambler, who turned behind for a corner.

The Tigers doubled their lead in style, Hall skipped away from two challenges down the left once again before cutting back to Vaughan Redford. The attacking midfielder breezed past his marker in the box before calmly rolling into the bottom corner.

Going 2-0 up early allowed Worksop to assert themselves on the contest in possession, moving the ball around the pitch with relative ease. Managing the ball like this allowed right back Regan Hutchinson acres of space and time, which quickly became an outlet for Worksop all night long.

Five minutes before the interval, Hughes found himself in a pocket of space. The striker turned and threaded a perfectly weighted through ball to Terry Hawkridge, who took it in his stride and rolled under the keeper for 3-0.

For large portions of the second-half, the Tigers remained in firm control and it felt the game would fizzle out as Penistone tired. However, with 15 minutes still to play, Deegan Atherton took matters into his own hands, surging in field towards the Penistone backline.The defender played a clever one-two with a teammate before laying off for Burrow to slide home into the bottom corner.

Redford and Hughes would have one final say on the scoring, as Redford was tripped as he beared down on goal, winning a penalty. Hughes stepped up and whipped the ball into the side netting to cap an excellent performance.

There would be more positive moments for Craig Parry’s side in the closing stages, as the emphatic lead allowed bright cameos off the bench from young duo Max Eastwood and Rostik Yaremenko on either wing.

After the play-off heartbreak against Macclesfield, the result and performance lifted spirit as Worksop claimed their 14th title in this competition, capping off what can only be described as an excellent season.