MARCUS Frederick scored the winner as WAB defeated Finchampstead Athletic Reserves 1-0 in the Bracknell & District Sunday League’s Junior Cup final at Larges Lane on Friday night, writes Dave Wright.

It comes at the end of their very first season together with the Division Two club getting the better of a side that had finished runners-up in Division One.

“They may be in a league above us, but if you saw the game you would not have thought so,” said WAB manager Carl Simon.

“I thought we were the better side from start to finish and had chances to have won by a lot more.”

Finch won the cup last year, but they never really looked like taking it back home with them with Scott Osler’s men failing to reproduce their true form on the night.

There was no real pattern to their play and their players appeared to have left their shooting boots at home.

Luck didn’t also go their way. They had strong appeals for a penalty turned down when Andy Lazenbury went over in the area, but referee Tony Howlett looked at his assistant and waved play on.

And WAB (pictured above) celebrated their let-off by taking the ball down the other end with Ryan MacManus crossing for Frederick to turn the ball home from close range after 15 minutes.

A little earlier, Luc Dwelly had squandered a good chance when shooting straight at keeper Ed Oliver when left alone in front of goal.

Finch suffered a blow on the half-hour mark when defender Sukhi Kang damaged his knee and had to be stretchered off before being taken to hospital with suspected ACL damage.

The first half ended with Tom Smith missing a great chance to double his side’s lead.

WAB created the better chances in the second half, twice being denied a certain goal by timely clearances from Callum Longstaff, whose performance earned him the man-of-the-match award from Berks & Bucks FA official Ron Bennett.

Lazenbury was the pick of a disappointing Finch side and when he went through on one occasion it looked as he was being held back, but his appeals for a penalty were turned down and his protests led to a booking.

He also went close to grabbing a late equaliser during a spell of pressure from Finch, but they had left it too late.

WAB were hanging on at the end and they finished with 10 men after Luke Pearse had been shown a straight red card by referee Tony Howlett for a foul, while in stoppage time three of his team-mates went down at the same time, all suffering from cramp.

“I could not have asked for any more from players,” said Simon, who travels up from his Brighton home for training and matches.

“They did really well and I am delighted for them. Not many teams win a trophy in their first season and, if we had not suffered some bad injuries early in the season, I think we would have won our league as well.”

Due to their success, WAB chairman Wayne Barham said the club are intending to form a reserve side for next season, so to have two men’s teams alongside their youth and mini-soccer sides.