Two of Sheppey United’s Kent Reliance Senior Trophy winning side have reflected on a great day for the club.
Following Sheppey United’s penalty shoot-out win over Ashford United to win the Kent Reliance Kent Senior Trophy at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium, KSN spoke to the Islander’s two heroes – Man of the Match Darren Marsden and keeper Dean Warford – whose heroics in the shoot-out saving FOUR of the ten spot kicks taken by Ashford was a major reason that the Trophy was Sheppey bound…
Speaking first with Man of the Match Marsden, KSN asked him why he’d dropped down two levels – from the Ryman League to the Kent Invicta – to play his football.
He admitted, “There were a few eyebrows raised when I dropped down two levels to play for Sheppey, but I just want to play football. I was in and out of the side at Hythe so it’s been nice to get back playing ninety minutes again which I’ve done, which is good for me.”
“Hythe had a good win at Sittingbourne this weekend and look good for the Play Offs, and if honest, I fancy them to do well in them as well as they’ve got a good side down there.”
We then focused on the Final. Marsden told us, “Today was just my second game for the club – we won last Saturday, but obviously today was the big one and we managed to pull it off in the end.”
“I found a lot of space and enjoyed the game. We had the chances to win it in the 90 minutes where I thought we had the better chances. It’s always good to get a Man of the Match award especially against an old club – I wasn’t expecting it at all…”
“Today we were the underdogs and not really expecting anything but determined to enjoy the day and we’ve walked away with a Trophy.”
“I’ve never known a penalty shoot-out like it before although haven’t been involved in that many to be fair. Normally I’ve either lost in extra time before it got to a shoot-out – it was cruel for Ashford to lose a Final like that, but what a win for Sheppey!”
“It’s massive for the Island – there’s big plans ahead for the club. There’s a great set up at the club and as everyone saw at the final whistle the fans were terrific.”
Looking ahead to the remainder of the Islander’s season and said, “We’ve got four more Cup Finals left if we’re going to achieve what we want to in the League and we go again on Wednesday night at Forest Hill.”
KSN then spoke to Sheppey’s keeper Warford, whose heroics in the shoot-out ensured that the Trophy went down the A249 onto the Island, not that the keeper was phased by the shoot-out!
He told us, “I’d been thinking about a shoot-out for a long, long time but it hasn’t really come off in the past – I’ve saved a few but still lost, but this time it was different.”
“I had to make the saves or otherwise we were going out and losing but to save four – decent kicks at that – was something else and a bit of a bonus.”
“I think going first put a bit more pressure on them especially going second going into sudden death when really you don’t dare miss your go or it’s game over.”
“I had thought that I was going to be next, and I had a couple of mates in the crowd behind the goal and I’d already said to them that I didn’t fancy taking one, that really would have been pressure.”
Explaining what the victory meant, Warford said, “Winning the Trophy is massive not just for the club, but for the Island as well.”
“It’s for the fans – for all the fans that were here today and back us every week – it’s for all of them. I don’t know how many of them there were, but they made a lot of noise as they do every week.”
“This is just one game and we’ll enjoy it tonight but our focus is the League and we’ve got another four Cup finals to play between now and the end of the season.”
“We want to play teams at Ashford’s level week in, week out and now we know what we’ve got to do starting on Wednesday night.”
“Every game is a pressure for us now, but we’ve got to keep going. We’re all delighted for the Chairma
n and to see him up in the stand celebrating really was great – he’s deserved it for all he’s done for the club!”
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