For the fourth time in five years the Bank of England's first XI made it through to the final
of the London Financial Football Association Cup Final, which was held at the Sports Centre
on 23 April.
Their opponents were Weirside Rangers (formerly Shell) and, with honours even in their two
previous league meetings this season, the game was to be a fiercely contested affair. Just
before kick-off, there was a minute's silence in memory of John Wilkinson, a member of the
Soccer Section who passed away in the week leading up to the final.
Weirside started the brighter in the opening exchanges, applying pressure to the Bank's defence,
which paid off with a goal after 15 minutes. The Bank who did everything except create a clear-cut
opening dominated the remainder of the half.
The second half started with the Bank firmly in control. Notwithstanding excellent defending by
Weirside, something had to give and eventually a Matthew Waldron header was handballed off the line
by the Weirside centre back. The resulting penalty was converted by Dave Whitehead to level the
scores. No action was taken against the offending defender whose deliberate action, according to
the rules of the game, could have been deemed to have been a sending off offence.
For the next ten minutes neither side were prepared to commit men forward in the hunt for the winning goal.
Then the Bank conceded a corner and from the resulting kick, the ball fell to the Weirside centre back
who scored with a powerful volley: the very man who had earlier given away the penalty. The remainder of
the game was all Bank pressure but the Weirside defence again stood solid and their goalkeeper pulled
off several amazing saves to keep the Bank at bay, the final score: 2-1 to Weirside Rangers.
