Quested claimed the Kent Sunday Premier Cup with a 3-1 victory over Simla at The Gallagher Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was the most entertaining start to the game with Quested taking the lead after just nineteen seconds, the quickest ever goal to be scored at the Gallagher Stadium.
After Simla keeper Michal Czanner failed to control a ball in the box, up popped Quested’s Ben Brown to rifle the ball home from the edge of the area.
Tom Fuller’s free kick for Simla in the fourth minute was as close as they came in the opening period, but his strike from fully thirty yards out went straight at Quested keeper James Smith.
Thereafter followed a succession of late challenges and fouls that kept referee Tom Marshall busy and it came as no surprise that the man in the middle went for his back pocket in the 29th minute.
A late and high challenge from Louis Valencia on Rob Guile saw the referee pull out the red card after much deliberation.
Being numerically disadvantaged only spurred Quested on and they doubled their lead in the 40th minute with the ball breaking to Stuart West just inside the area and the striker made no mistake.
West could have made it three on 45 minutes, but blazed over after dancing into the box from the left flank.
With the pitch playing nicely after a decent downpour of rain earlier in the afternoon, both sides were encouraged to slide in for some hard tackles.
Simla were rewarded for their efforts just five minutes into the second period, bringing it back to 2-1 when the ball fell kindly to Matt Parsons in the box and he made no mistake burying it into the top corner.
The game was numerically evened up just after the hour mark when referee Tom Marshall had no choice than to send Simla’s Stewart Gostlow off after he hauled down Quested’s Stuart West as he ran through on goal.
A minute later and Quested took full advantage as West turned provider for Cliff Eldridge who struck the ball across the Simla keeper and into the bottom corner.
Going 3-1 down forced Simla to push more men forward as they looked to get back into the game, but they rarely troubled Quested keeper James Smith in the remaining time.
In truth, Quested should have sealed the game in the 87th minute with Clayton Cooper missing a header in the Simla box, but Eldridge’s shot came back off the post and away to safety.
In the end it mattered not as Quested played out the time to claim the Cup.
Speaking after the game, Quested manager Steve Lester spoke of his pride in his side after a great start to the game and playing most of the game with ten men:
“We were absolutely superb today, we really worked our socks off, all of them.”
“The sending off could have changed things, but we dug in, played well, kept the ball like we needed too and took our chances.”
“It was about time we won something as we’ve been in semi-finals and finals in the past few years. We’ve now won the league, the Senior Cup, the Pre-season Cup and now the Kent Cup.”
“I wish we could play here at Maidstone every week as it’s a lovely place to play. It certainly beats the bobbly old pitch at Luton Rec with all the dogs mess on it!”
FULL TIME: QUESTED 3-1 SIMLA
Simla starting line up: Michal Czanner, Jon Lord, James Mills, Stewart Gostlow, Michael Hunte, Ross Mills, Joe Fuller, Tom Fuller, Rob Guile, Troy Cooper, Matt Newman.
Subs: Clayton Cooper, John Phillips, John Fuller, Matt Parsons, Alex Carey.
Quested starting line up: James Smith, Jack West, Bryan Greenfield, Lee Reilly, Frazer Rogers, Ricky Freeman, Stuart West, Ben Brown, Louis Valencia, Michael Jenner, Tom Michelsen.
Subs: Gary Leigh, Ross Brookies, Cliff Eldridge, Tom Staff, Bob Chiverton.
Referee: Mr Tom Marshall
Assistants: Mr Daniel Gallagher & Mr Jamie Gray
4th Official: Mr Daniel Doyle
Pictures supplied by http://www.psp-images.co.uk/