Marshalls and Mossley Hill Athletic will battle it out on Wednesday night in a bid to become Pyke Cup winners.
The First Division West Cheshire sides will meet at Ashville’s ground in Wallasey for a 7pm kick-off.
Marshalls booked their place in tomorrow’s final in impressive fashion as Matty Grivosti scored four in their emphatic 6-3 win over West Cheshire League champions-elect South Liverpool.
South won the rescheduled 2019-20 Pyke Cup with a 4-1 win over Ellesmere Port Town, thanks to Owen Hough, Alexander Woodcock and a brace from Bradley Williams.
Prior to Saturday’s semi-final triumph, Marshalls overcame both Prescot Cables Reserves and Chester Nomads by a 2-1 scoreline with Adam Langley firing them through against the Cables before Tony Donaldson and Luke Pearce contributed to the quarter-final win over Chester.
Manager Jack Edwards praised his side’s performance at the weekend: “It was a game we were all looking forward to, because we’ve played them before and we’ve either performed for 45 minutes or in spells but we’ve always fell short.
“We kind of knew what he had to do to beat them, but we had to be on our game for 90 minutes.
“We set up a little bit differently as we thought we could target certain areas and it worked out. Despite falling behind to the free-kick, we reacted well and got the rewards for the hard work that the lads put in and the quality that we shown on the ball got up the six goals.”
Mossley Hill have been a force to be reckoned with in this season’s Pyke Cup. The South Liverpool side have scored four in their route to the semi-final as they saw off Aintree Villa and Upton AA.
Despite a below par performance, by their own standards, Owen Cassidy, Elliott Hughes and Nathan Peet helped Mossley Hill to a 3-1 win over Maghull with Peet named man of the match.
Going into Saturday’s semi-final, Mossley Hill were threatened by injuries following a tough restart. But, manager Ian McLean was pleased with how his side dealt with the threat away from home: “We applied ourselves well, controlled the game for long periods and took our chances when they came.
“(We were) Very tired at the end but the adrenaline of cup football keeps you going.
“It’s the best opportunity to have something to show for an outstanding 26 months of football in which we’ve lost one game.” He added. “The lads have worked tirelessly to improve and reach the standards set by South Liverpool, with Saturday being our 11th straight win.
“We can technically still win the league but realistically but this is our best opportunity to finish the period with silverware which is the minimum this group of players deserve.”
With 12 points separating the two in the table, the game makes for an interesting spectacle after recent encounters.
Wednesday marks the first meeting since Marshalls threw away a three goal lead as Elliot Hughes’ double inspired the fightback as Mossley Hill won 4-3, with goals from Joe Hornby and Peet ensuring the points.
The 24-year-old, Edwards, believes that December’s comeback defeat was the turning point for his side.
He said: “That was kind of a season changing moment for us in terms of the team realising what we had to do to see out those games and in terms of growing as a team because it is a very young team so we’re hoping the performance on Wednesday allows us to finish on a high note.
“Wednesday for us, we want to put in a strong performance and come home with the cup, that’s the most important thing.”
Kick-off is at 7pm at Ashville Football Club (Wallasey CH45 8RH).
(Photo by Nick Gerrard)
