Magic Millers win the cup

It was Cup Final Wednesday, and as we arrived at Parkside, home of Aveley, Rihanna was singing about finding love in a hopeless place. Notwithstanding the fact that there was nothing hopeless about this particular place, we had a short search for love, but found only a burger and a programme. Luckily for our Isthmian brethren, a programme and a burger is very much the same as love, so we suspect all comers would be as satisfied as the Barbadian songstress by kick off. Whether they would be just as happy by full time…that was an entirely different story.

Parkside has been hosting our Velocity (League Cup) Final since 2018, but this is the first time that the hosts have actually been taking part in it. Without doubt that gave them a bit of an advantage, but the venues for each of our cup finals were decided long before the season started- and given the Millers hadn’t reached a League Cup Final for thirty three years we suspect even the denizens of RM15 hadn’t really expected this outcome. Isthmian Chair, Nick Robinson, pointed out in the programme that home advantage didn’t help Bayern Munich much when they hosted Chelsea in 2012, but we suspect that was just an excuse to highlight a success for his beloved Blues. And given their current form, we should probably give the poor chap a break, as he hasn’t had much success to get excited by this season. Still, there’s much to be said for mid-table obscurity!
 
That last Aveley final, by the way, was on May 7th 1990, when they travelled to Dagenham & Redbridge to take on St Albans City. In those days they were riding high in Isthmian Division Two North, whilst their opponents were sitting two Divisions higher in our Premier Division, but you wouldn’t have known as the Millers swept the Saints aside, winning three-nil for a cup and promotion ‘double’ in front of a crowd of one thousand and thirty six. 
 
Moving on to the ‘visitors,’ Potters Bar Town, in contrast, didn’t appear in the competition until September 12th 2006- a three-two Second Round Extra Time defeat against Staines Town. This will be their first Final, but to put that into context they’ve only had thirteen Isthmian seasons during their history, and as you’ll recall we didn’t finish two of those.
 
Another Aveley advantage became apparent when you looked at current form. The Millers hadn't lost a game in three months, had lost only three home games in all competitions this season, and had already played the Scholars four times in League and FA Cup. The aggregate score from those encounters was seven-four in Aveley’s favour; the Millers winning both league encounters, the Scholars triumphing in the Cup after a replay.
 
Making things worse for the Scholars, they arrived at Parkside on a terrible run of form which had seen them win only two of their previous twenty one league matches, and as a result fall from first to thirteenth. Their Velocity Cup run, however, had perhaps given them relief from their league situation- and they’d taken a handful of notable scalps, including Premier Division rivals Billericay Town and Haringey Borough, as well as Pitching In South East promotion chasers Whitehawk. The Millers run to the final had perhaps been a little easier, Tilbury, Bowers and Pitsea, Leatherhead and Chatham Town being removed from the competition, the latter on penalties.
 
That said, and looking past these statistics, perhaps two things went in the Scholars favour. First and foremost, they’d been focused on this final for weeks. Safe from relegation, aware that they are not going to make the play offs, tonight’s match has been their priority- and their form in this competition suggested they’ve known that for quite a while. The Millers, by contrast, are not only deeply mixed up in the play off race, they are deeply mixed up in the title race. They can’t afford to be distracted from that, and they won’t really want to pick up any injuries. Will that be playing on their minds, even if only subconsciously? We were about to find out!

Around half an hour before kick off the Scholars fans discovered their voices, perhaps helped by a little Aveley Ale, and we discovered that “Potters Bar is wonderful.” There was a slight possibility that they were, in fact, being paid by the Hertfordshire Tourist Board and trying to drum up business.

The Scholars got us underway, and earned a corner within the first sixty seconds. Charnley Dash then got above his marker, but the header went wide, with the number nine claiming- vainly- that it had taken a deflection. “Bar Army,” sung the fans behind Jonathan North’s goal. “Come on you Millers,” responded the home support.

The hosts got going. A run down the right from Kenny Aileru, a cross, and a shot from George Sykes brought a fine save from Louis Chadwick, with Oil Coker’s follow up missing the target and finding Aileru in an offside position. The visitors responded, their progress halted by a collection of niggly fouls and generally wasted free kicks. We reached the ten minute mark with the Scholars having most of the possession, but doing little with it- although their fans were having a very good time nonetheless.

After a fairly sterile period of play the hosts begun applying pressure, coming close from one corner and immediately earning another, the Bar defence standing firm. A shot from the edge of the box from Siju Odelusi brought a save from Chadwick, and a shot from Aileru needed a brave block by Adam Martin. From the resulting corner Odelusi clipped a shot over the bar and held his head, perhaps a little unnecessarily as the chance certainly wasn’t easy. We reached the twenty five minute mark with the Scholars hanging on a little, and the Aveley drummer, inspired, began to bang out a rhythm. Aileru then produced the best effort so far, his shot heading for the bottom corner before the Bar keeper, at full stretch, managed to divert it around the post. As we approached the half hour, another chance, good work from Skyes setting up Aileru, and bringing another save from Chadwick, who was quickly up again to save from Coker. A header over from Sykes, and the visitors were being given no respite- but, lest we forget, were still level, somehow. Actually, we knew how- Chadwick had already made enough saves to win man of the match in three matches, let alone one. A stoppage whilst Odelusi was booked for a foul gave the visitors a breather, before good work from Reece Beckles Richards finally got them out of their own half- and into the Millers box, where they earned a corner. Adam Martin met it on the edge of the box, but his shot cleared the bar.

On thirty seven minutes Chadwick surpassed himself once more. The curling shot from Benas Vaivada was destined for the bottom corner, but somehow the Scholars number one stretched and stretched, curling his body like an orange python, and somehow kept the ball out. Even the home fans in the main stand applauded, and they were right. Soon afterwards another effort from distance from Odelusi caught out the visiting keeper for the first time, and the ball bounced off the top of the bar and out for a goal kick. He’d certainly earned that luck.

At the other end, finally, a shot on target for the visitors. Max Jessop ran forward, his angle was tight, and North was down to save.

And then, with two minutes until half time, the breakthrough. Tom Stephen was closer to his own half than the Scholars goal. Perhaps he’d seen the effort from Odelusi that bounced off the bar, and decided that the only way to beat Chadwick was from distance? Perhaps he was right! The shot arrowed over the keeper, under the bar, and the home fans celebrated with wild abandon. One-nil, and Aveley deserved their lead.

It took three minutes of the second half for that lead to be extended. This one was more routine, a block rebounding to Vaivada who made no mistake from the edge of the box- although Chadwick came close to another save. Suddenly the home fans were making all the noise, the visitors deflated, and it wasn’t really a surprise. Lewis Smith tried a shot from distance, the ball skidding off the rain-sodden surface and past the post, but the Scholars looked dispirited- as well they might. Aveley had won the Golden Gloves Award for the previous two months. They don’t score lots of goals, but once they get ahead they tend to stay there. The visitors would have to throw caution to the wind and hope that the occasion might unsettle the Millers.

Sadly for the travelling fans, little changed about their sides approach play. A run down the left from Jessop brought a free kick which didn’t beat the first man, but that was just about that, and on sixty one minutes any doubt about the outcome departed. A well-worked move by the Millers saw the ball moved from right to left, and found Coker unmarked in the middle. He took a touch, and finished with aplomb. Three-nil, and you couldn’t help wonder whether it would get worse for the Scholars- but actually they finally decided to make a game of it and had a decent period of pressure, without an end product. The Millers faithful ignored the fact that the ball was at the other end and decided to take a moment to serenade Benas Vaivada to the tune of Copacabana, and it must be said that they were far more tuneful than Barry Manilow.

We moved into the last twenty minutes on the back of six changes, four for the hosts, two for the Scholars. The changes made no difference to the pattern of the game, and the Millers remained entirely in control, as they had for nearly all of the previous seventy. Vaivada forced another excellent save from Chadwick, whilst behind his goal the home fans partied like it was 2023. It was also 2125, and we had ten minutes left. They heralded a little more Millers pressure, but nothing of note. It didn’t matter, did it? Three added minutes and that was that- Aveley were League Cup Winners again, thirty three years after their last triumph. Three- nil, and without heroics from the visiting keeper it could so easily have been more.

The last twelve months have now brought a title and a cup win for Aveley. They say all good things come in threes- so perhaps we might be back at Parkside on May 1st for a Play Off Final- assuming they can’t just take the title during the next few weeks.

The Millers fans leaving Parkside after the presentation weren’t serenaded once more by Rihanna, but they had certainly found much to love, as advertised. But sadly, for the Scholars, most of whom had long since departed, Parkside was indeed a hopeless place.