Saturday 10th April 2010
Vodafone Stadium, London. Att: 68,593.
London Town braved the new, controversial Vodafone Stadium pitch by reaching the CSA England Cup final for the third time in succession with a 4-2 win against Monsters FC.
The pitch was the centre of attention, with its new FieldTurf surface - an artificial type of grass -after previous complaints about the state of pitch.
It had to be tested by the CSA and CSA England, before getting the seal of approval by both federations.
But it was Town who adjusted the best to the new pitch, playing their passing game without a hitch against the Monsters, who decided to abandon their attacking style of play in favour of a long ball game.
That turned out to be a terrible idea for the Team in Green and Purple, and there was no way that the Monsters giant rookie striker Matt Oxley was going to get past the Blues' centre-halves Daniel Perry and Juanpa Gonzalez.
The Anglo-Spanish connection in the heart of the Town defence was so much stronger than the Anglo-Spanish connection up front with Oxley partnering with Quique Gomez.
But it was an Italian that put Town in front with half-an-hour gone, Andrea Romano breaking away from the Monsters defence and slotting it through Igor Kuljman's legs.
John Carey made it two on the stroke of half-time with a powerful header.
When Quique made it 2-1 within 30 seconds of the match, it put the Monsters back in contention as they started to play to attractive style of football, but it was all in vain as Daniel Perry made it 3-1.
Darren Watkinson pulled another back for the Monsters, before Town's Kevin Brickman scored in injury time to win 4-2.
Goals
London Town: Romano 33', Carey 44', Perry 67', Brickman 90'.
Monsters: Quique 46', Watkinson 82'.
