11am 30 July 2023
Montagu Cup, Preliminary Round
AFP Pewter Pot 1 Swinton Athletic 0 (att 30)
AFP Pewter Pot play in the Rotherham Sunday League, which wouldn't normally be on my groundhopping radar were it not for the fact that this was a tie in the Montagu Cup, which is open to both Saturday and Sunday teams.
It's apparently one of the oldest cup competitions still around, having first been held in 1897, and the final regularly attracts four figure crowds. This preliminary round fixture didn't pull in those numbers, but it was keenly contested.
To me the result was an upset. I'd expected Swinton Athletic, playing on Saturdays in the top division of the Sheffield County Senior League, to be too strong for Sunday league opponents.
But that probably reveals my lack of knowledge of Sunday football in South Yorkshire, as AFP Pewter Pot were the better side the deserved their win. The only goal was after 61 minutes, but AFP twice hit the crossbar and Swinton had the busier of the two keepers.
The game was played at Thomas Rotherham College, which is AFP's home pitch for this season. It's an enclosed grass pitch, with banking on one side where it backs onto an adjacent 3G.
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