Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

FA Trophy Final

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching the FA Trophy final at Wembley.

Fallen "giants" Wrexham were taking on North Ferriby United. Ferriby come from a village just west of Hull that I've been to watch a number of times while I've been at university there. The population of Ferriby is just over 3,000 people and it's fair to say they were plucky underdogs going into the game. The team were third from bottom of the Northern Premier League when manager Billy Heath took over in 2011. Last season they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Conference.

There were nearly 15,000 supporters at the game, and despite the sheer size of the stadium the atmosphere wasn't lacking...dare I say it was probably better than England's game on Friday night? I couldn't say I wasn't there. Wrexham bought with them 10,000 supporters with Ferriby's small but vocal contingent being around 4,000. The whole village must have been there. There was a large group of 16 year olds that didn't stop singing for the full game, including pulling out one or two Poznan's. The blokes from the pie shop (North Ferriby Utd is home to an award winning pie) came out in force, all donning their white and green butchers hats which cued a large chorus of lads (who seemed to have been enjoying a few early drinks) to start singing chants about how they prefer going to the Indian. It was a really friendly crowd, no expectations, everyone was just there to have a good time.

Wrexham took the lead after around 20 minutes, but Ferriby responded well. At HT it was 1-0 to the Welshmen, but Ferriby were coming back into the game. When the second half kicked of Ferriby's pacey winger St Juste started giving the Wrexham full back all sorts of trouble, but Wrexham took a 2-0 lead and it looked like the game would be over. However with 10 minutes to go Ferriby won themselves a penalty, and skipper King duly stepped up to put it away. Game on.

Carnage ensued in added time where (if he wasn't already) new club legend Ryan Kendall, who has come off the bench three times already to score at the death in this tournament, tapped in a cross from St Juste. I was only a nipper back in 1998 when I watched the play-off final but I was having flash backs. Extra timed beckoned, and despite having the momentum it seemed as if the huge pitch and Wrexham professional status would pay dividends (Ferriby play on a tiny pitch and only train for three hours a week).

But it was that man Ryan Kendall again, this time with a header from a cross to put the Villagers ahead 3-2. The place was bouncing, the scenes were unbelievable, indescribable. However Wrexham were determined to spoil the party and equalised right at the death. Time for penalties.

Ferriby got a good start in the penalties, scoring their first three, but missing their subsequent final two meant it went to sudden death. Scoring their first two in sudden death keeper Adam Nicklin saved Wrexham's 7th penalty and North Ferriby were crowned champions. Hugs were shared with anyone who was there. It was a fantastic day for everyone from the little Yorkshire village, and anyone associated to it. It was all a bit emotional, without doubt one of the greatest matches I've ever been to. I defy anyone to tell me there has been a better game played at Wembley since our infamous win over Sunderland back in 1998.

As a student my ticket cost me £10, my dad who came along paid £20. You don't get better value for money than that.

So I just wanted to say congratulations North Ferriby, my second team, and Up the Villagers!

Comments

  • Oh, and I spotted this on Twitter after the match. Of course there was a Palace fan trying to ruin everyone's day.

  • Thanks Jollyrobin, this is a great read. I would love to see a full video of the game sometime. Well done to the underdogs. Brought back fond memories of the Sunderland play-off final - sounds a very similar game. Please advise if a video is produced.
  • Just shows what a big miss that was for ebbsfleet losing to north ferriby in the quarter final. The 2008 final they won v Torquay had a gate of over 40,000 split about 60/40 in Torquay's favour. Would have been interesting to see if they could have taken around 15,000 again this time around.
  • edited March 2015

    Thanks Jollyrobin, this is a great read. I would love to see a full video of the game sometime. Well done to the underdogs. Brought back fond memories of the Sunderland play-off final - sounds a very similar game. Please advise if a video is produced.

    Best I can find is a three minute highlights video from BT Sport. I'm sure NFU will bring the game out on DVD, if they do I'll let you know.

    http://sport.bt.com/all-the-goals/goals-north-ferriby-3-3-wrexham-5-4-on-pens-91363972125389
  • I watched the game up until 3-2 when I had to go out but I was completely enthralled so was keeping an eye on the match on my mobile and was actually gutted when Wrexham made it 3-3 which is mad as I have no affiliation with North Ferriby, had never heard of them before this season, couldn't name a player or point them out on a map !

    Was really pleased when they won the penalty shoot out, bet there was some party afterwards !
  • I watched it all on TV - very entertaining and a real "Roy of the Rovers" story.
  • Because of the rubbish weather yesterday ended up watching the Whole game.
    It was a cracker.
    Wrexham snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, when they were 2 up, took off their Captain, and i'm sure the manager will rue this decision in retrospect.

    This was the polar opposite of the premiership, with North Ferriby the village team from
    East Yorkshire playing for the sheer joy of kicking a football around at the national stadium. 3-3 AET and 4-3 with saves and misses in the shoot out.
    A great watch for a football fan. (better than a International Friendly)


    As the game was on BT i was surprised to hear that if they hadn't won the 50K prize money North Ferriby would've been out of pocket ?

    If Prem teams are getting their 10 million a match how come The FA trophy teams get nothing( as reported in the i)



  • Wrexham Manager sacked today
  • He looked like a man who knew what his fate was when he was being interviewed after the game. Poor fella.
  • A terrific write up @JollyRobin .. North Ferriby is owned by the daughter and family of Allam, the Hull City owner, so, rather like, for example, Forest Green Rovers, there is some real money backing the club. North Ferriby is a small village, but within quite a big catchment area in a nice part of Humberside/Greater Kingston upon Hull.
    I would expect to see the club in the conference within the next couple of seasons. From there they could well do 'a Fleetwood' and go all the way to the Football League.
  • Sponsored links:


  • Allam was in the crowd Lincs, but the chairman looked like a local bloke.
  • Allam was in the crowd Lincs, but the chairman looked like a local bloke.

    Cheers AA .. Allam's daughter and son in law are the 'official' owners of NFU (not the farmers' union lol) .. Allam Snr almost certainly controls the purse strings and as with a lot of clubs nowadays, the 'chairman' is probably a 'managing director/CEO' by any other name .. I didn't see the game as I don't have BT TV .. glad you enjoyed it @Algarveaddick
  • Thought that might be the case.
  • Busy weekend for Wembley Stadium, England`s footie Friday, Rugby (Sarries v Quins) Saturday, both topped by yesterday`s splendid Trophy final. Well done NFU
  • A terrific write up @JollyRobin .. North Ferriby is owned by the daughter and family of Allam, the Hull City owner, so, rather like, for example, Forest Green Rovers, there is some real money backing the club. North Ferriby is a small village, but within quite a big catchment area in a nice part of Humberside/Greater Kingston upon Hull.
    I would expect to see the club in the conference within the next couple of seasons. From there they could well do 'a Fleetwood' and go all the way to the Football League.

    And then they can rename themselves North Ferriby Sharks or something to appeal to the global market.
  • I thick the Trophy is a great competition. I remember seeing Canvey Island win it at Villa Park years ago. Well done North Ferriby.
  • What a great game. I watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The trophy is very impressive and I had the pleasure of having it in my Trophy shop in Worthing back in the 90's.
  • IA said:

    A terrific write up @JollyRobin .. North Ferriby is owned by the daughter and family of Allam, the Hull City owner, so, rather like, for example, Forest Green Rovers, there is some real money backing the club. North Ferriby is a small village, but within quite a big catchment area in a nice part of Humberside/Greater Kingston upon Hull.
    I would expect to see the club in the conference within the next couple of seasons. From there they could well do 'a Fleetwood' and go all the way to the Football League.

    And then they can rename themselves North Ferriby Sharks or something to appeal to the global market.
    This topic came up on a discussion months ago about renaming Hull City .. my suggestion for N Ferriby was : the Humberside Honey Bees .. they'd need to change the club colours though ((:>)
  • North Ferriby is up for sale .. struggling in the Conference North but Wembley winners sell it while its a bit hot .. the Alams are cutting their losses, the odds are that North Ferriby will slip back into obscurity, unfortunately
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!