NORTHERN IRELAND WIN TESCO CUP IN MANCHESTER THRILLER
Northern Ireland Champions Linfield FC won a thrilling Tesco Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium, beating England's champions Binbrook from Birmingham in the home nations final.
Linfield went behind to a sublime chipped goal from England winger Joe Wykes but battled back with a brace from James Elliott to take the title with a 2-1 win. There was further cheer for Linfield as Fort Hill College pupil Garth Megrath walked off with the goalkeeper of the tournament award, while Coleraine Institute youngster Luke McDowell landed the top midfielder award. There was consolation for England and Joe Wykes as he was named player of the tournament by watching Tesco Cup ambassador Paul Merson.
Coach Gordon Bickerstaff hailed his side's success.
“We showed in the final that if you keep going to the end you will get your rewards,” said Bickerstaff, who watched on with pride as Linfield lifted the top award at the City of Manchester Stadium. “We went a goal down in the final so to come back and score two goals to win it was a fantastic achievement by the players.
He continued: “It was terrific to play in such a brilliant stadium. Some of the boys will go on to play in stadiums like this in the future which will be great. It is fantastic to have represented Northern Ireland so well in the Tesco Cup. The team have had a great season winning a league and cup double and winning the Tesco Cup competition just rounds off a fantastic year for everyone involved.”
Earlier in the day Northern Ireland qualified for the final with a 3-0 victory over Scotland while England knocked out Welsh Champions Gwent County with a 2-0 win. Other individual player awards went to: Wales Christian Dunne (best defender) and Gethin Hill (Best Forward).
This website gives all the relevant tournament information including all of last season's results, how to enter and details of teams participating in each area. Clubs will also be able to track their results and submit match reports as the tournament progresses.
View video highlights of the 2007/2008 finals (opens in a new window)
View the results from the 2007/2008 competition (in CSV format)
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