Maine Road’s reserves experienced joys as their season came to fruition on Thursday night, with a win in the Robinson’s Brewery Saturday Amateur Cup Final, after defeating Dean’s Youth 3-1 at Curzon Ashton’s ground. The victors went behind early on, but came back to win with a dominant performance.

Road’s reserves achieved this win after a long run in the competition, starting in October. Moorlands Sports and Social were the visitors to Brantingham Road, but left after a 1-0 defeat, putting Derek Barber’s team into the second round. Boothstown were the next to make the visit to south Manchester, and got a 1-1 draw against Road’s second team, before exiting the cup on penalties. The third round saw Road host Swinton for a place in the quarter-finals, and the reserve side went on to book their spot with a 2-1 win. Manchester Medics were the quarter-final opponents, being dispatched 3-2, before Maine Road got their place in the final with a 4-3 win over Farnworth.

Dean’s Youth entered the competition at the second round, but had just as hard a run as Road did, and did well to get to the final. First up was a trip to Manchester Rovers, and Dean’s came away with a strong 4-2 victory. Next, they made the trip to Hollinwood C.C., and again came away with a good win, 4-1 on the day. Their quarter-final saw them play AFC Monton, in a high-scoring game which finished 4-4 – Dean’s Youth then triumphed 4-3 on penalties. Finally, they faced Newton Heath in the semi-finals and won on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

On the day, Dean’s Youth started the stronger and gained an advantage after just six minutes. A corner from the right side was swung in, and a mix-up in the Road defence led to the ball bouncing in off of the head of Daniel Jepson. After this setback, Maine Road controlled the game for much of the half, and came close on several occasions, even hitting the post from Tom Keyworth.

Eventually though, Road did equalise, and it was more than deserved. Danny Morgan turned his defender and won a free-kick in the left channel, which was swung in high towards Josh Harper (23), who took the chance without a second though. That came after a long period of sustained pressure which didn’t let up after the goal, as the Road reserves tried to get in front. However, the final was tied at the break.

Seven minutes after half-time, Maine Road’s reserves went in front thanks to the excellent Daniel Morgan (52). A quick break from Road left Dean’s Youth stunned, and when Morgan was played through, he was never going to miss. He lashed it home via the post, to put Road 2-1 up.

The pressure from Maine Road on the Dean’s goal was retained for a lot of the remainder of the second half. Then, Road finally put the game to bed on 81 minutes when Matthew Morgan on as a substitute lashed home a shot from 18 yards after a corner was cleared to him. As a whole, the team more than deserved the win, and can be extremely pleased after a testing season. Connor Hughes was named man of the match for a superb performance, with the youngster controlling a lot of the attacking play for Maine Road from an advanced midfield role.