The Villa first team cup and promotion winning squad!
Tuesday 18th of May 2021 will go down as a very important date in the history of Montpelier Villa Football Club.
During that afternoon, the club were preparing to face Rustington in the SCFL Division 2 supplementary shield final when at 3pm, three and half hours before kick off, we received news from the FA that the club had been promoted to the Southern Combination Division One and that we were now officially a senior football club!
The disappointment of not getting the promotion we had deserved and worked so hard for the year before was now gone, but the celebrations had to be put on ice as we had a cup final to prepare for at Steyning Town Community Football Club.
We had faced Rustington earlier in the competition and been pretty convincingly beaten but we came away from that game feeling like we now knew what to expect and with some changes to our tactics and formation, we would be ready to face them again should the situation arise. We didn't have to wait long as we both reached the final which was our club's first since entering the SCFL.
Ryan Walton slots home a first half pen.
Manager, Kev Green, switched formation to a 5-2-3 with several players moving to unusual positions. From the very first whistle the team were aggressive in their play, moving the ball between the lines with pace and creating a number of good opportunities and we took the lead through Mitch Ford after just 5 minutes. Rustington rallied and equalised on 15 minutes but two goals from Mayckol Sabino & Ryan Walton meant we led at half time 3-1. In the 2nd half Villa again pressed for more goals and we were rewarded for another good half of football, with a Charlie Weller finish from close range and a a worldie from man of the match, Gabe Robinson.
Mitch Ford jostles for possession in the Rustington box
The day had finished not just with promotion but also some silverware (well, plateware). Not a bad day at all really!
Team: Whiting, Damario, Rondel, Walton, Martin, Barden, Robinson, Stevenson, Sabino, Weller, Ford. Subs: Richmond, Powell, McCormick, McMillan, French.
Vive La Villa!
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