| The Pete Chase Cup is an annual contest between a team of Gloucester City Supporters and Gloucester City Ladies FC. The cup, donated by Phil Ellaway of , is named in honour of Pete Chase, a lifelong City fan who sadly passed away on December 15th 2003. The retired policeman had always been a hard worker for the Supporters Club and had been a major player in the reformation that had turned City's fortunes around. Pete was also a regular at the Ladies' matches so it was fitting that the game held in his honour be played between the Ladies and his fellow Supporters. |
| Last season, the contest held on a warm July afternoon saw the Supporters come out 4-0 winners but this year's game was held back until the end of the season due to pitch problems. Sadly, there were problems with the surface today as the match was played on a mudbath of a pitch that had just seen City's final home game of the season less than an hour earlier. |
| The Ladies team, fresh from a successful first season in the SWWFL Division One (North) which saw them finish runners-up to Team Bath came brim full of talent and pace with Helen Wood, Yvette Kemp and Lorraine Johnson providing options in attack. Defending always seems to be a problem but as the likes of Grace Smith, Laura Meheran and Jade Lewis mature the concerns will ease. All three were present at the back today protecting young goalkeeper Kat Blunt. |
The Supporters fielded a full array of talent. Led by player/manager Lee Mills, he called upon the likes of Steve Chase and Adie Hayward to form an impenetrable wall at the back to shield rookie keeper Terry Jones. The four across the middle were Mills and Darran Pearce on the wings with Chris Kemp and Rich Steel in midfield plus Andy 'Shandy' Birchley up front alongside Matt Phillips. Joe Green was also on the field in his rugby boots.
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| The game started with a quiet opening, the highlight of which was a mazy run from Chris Kemp that ended in an ignored penalty shout. Both teams took a while to get used to the conditions before the Supporters took the lead, when, in a repeat of the game last season Andy Birchley netted. The Stockport based forward (on loan from Crown FC) ran onto a long pass and confidently slotted the ball home past Kat Blunt in the Ladies' goal. |
| Jones the keeper was called into action when he had to block a shot from Helen Wood after good work from Lorraine Johnson on the right wing. But for all of the Ladies probing it was Shandy who got his and the Supporters second of the match by beating the offside trap and lobbing the ball over Blunt into the far corner. |
| The game was played in the right spirit, although one foul didn't go unnoticed when the Fans boss Mills cynically hacked down Grace Smith as she advanced out of her own half. |
| With the rolling substitute system in place, in part to give everyone a good game but also because most supporters would be knackered after half an hour, Kev Woodham came on to good effect. One of his first actions was to feed the ball to orange booted pacy winder Pearce to cooly place a shot into the far corner for the fans' third goal. |
Midfielder Rich Steel scored the goal of his dreams when he was set up by Shandy Birchley and all he had to do was roll the ball in past Blunt to make it four. Far from being downhearted, rallying shouts from the Ladies team were heard including "Come on Girls, they're only men!"
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| Terry Jones was called into action again as Lorraine got a sight of goal and was more than equal to her effort. The action switched to the other end as the Stockport striker tried to get his hat-trick by lobbing the keeper, but threats of burning down the her shed didn't work as she denied him. |
| If Shandy's lob was too low then Chris Kemp's was too high as he just cleared the bar with a deft chip. The guys weren't having too much luck trying to score so Laura Meheran did it for them by accidentally deflecting Pearce's cross into her own net. He tried to get another for himself on the next surge forward but Kat blocked him superbly. |
| It was all City Supporters now and a one-two between Phillips and Kemp saw a shot just go wide but it was soon six when Pearce received a nicely weighted pass and sprinted goalwards before scoring with ease. |
| Joe Green got involved when he was found guilty of a cynical handball on the edge of the box and the following free kick from Mouse brought a good save from TJ Cooker. |
Shandy completed his hat-trick just before half time when put in by Chris Kemp to make it seven and it should've been eight and Shandy's fourth when he scored a superb diving header but referee Russell Price blew up for half time before the ball had crossed the line.
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| Player Boss Lee Mills incurred the referee's wrath by attempting to start the second half with twelve players on the field and was duly yellow carded for ungentlemanly conduct. |
| Kev Woodham did what many couldn't when his speculative shot from distance found it's way into the corner of the net to score in front of the T-End to make it eight for the supporters, but to even things up a bit the deadly duo of Steve Chase and Adie Hayward at the back were ta |
| It didn't take long to show the difference as Mouse scored a header at a corner to pull a goal back for the Ladies. Two minutes later she bagged her second when she got on the end of a cross from Laura Akers and rifled the ball home. Before you could say "goalscoring machine" she'd got her hat-trick when Woodham was penalised for handball and she dispatched the penalty to make it three goals in six minutes for herself and the Ladies. |
It could've been four for the Ladies' top scorer but TJ did well to hold her shot from Tsileka Perry's cross and the heroics were repeated at the other end as Kat Blunt denied Darran Pearce. It wasn't long before the pacy winger had completed his hat-trick though as he picked up the pieces from a blocked Matt Phillips shot to score.
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| Helen Wood and Rich Steel got into a bit of a tangle as the deadly number nine attempted to swap shirts before the final whistle and the laughs continued as Lorraine Johnson chuckled as she robbed Jones and went around him to net the fourth for the Ladies. |
| There was another shame spot for Joe Green when he was nutmegged by Laura Akers and Donna Turner came close when a corner found it's way to her, but her shot was always going wide. Terry Jones continued to offer chances when his goal kick only got as far as Perry, but the exotically named Tsileka could only shoot straight at the burger-selling stopper. |
| Kat Blunt might've let in more than her fair share but she made up for it with a last minute save from Phillips after he'd weaved his way into the area. He didn't get any luck and the game ended 9-4 to the Fans. |
| There were emotional scenes as City's Steve Chase was presented the Pete Chase Cup by his mother Sandra, Pete's widow. |
| Well played ladies, better luck next year! |
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