Following Villa’s excellent showing in the Richardson Cup Final, it was almost inevitable that there would be a touch of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ about this one. And so it proved.  In spite of the excellent work by the beleaguered ground staff (singular) and his tractor-bound assistant Hopalong Muggins, the sprinkler system just couldn’t cope with the dry conditions, (hole in the watering can don’t you know!) and both sides struggled to come to terms with the always high and often unpredictable bounce of the ball.

Coppull held sway throughout most of the first half, and in truth were unlucky to have just the one goal to show for their efforts at the interval. Buckley notched from close range on the end of a sweeping Coppull move, and only an outstanding save from Ross Baxter low to his right, and the intervention of the post which felt the full venom of a stunning thirty yarder, kept Villa in touch at the turn-around.

Villa rallied in the second half and enjoyed the lion’s share of the balance of play, but without the telling runs or the searching passes of their last outing. Mark McDonnell decided to change things round and sent on an extra forward in the shape of Aidie Briggs (words like ‘youth policy’ and ‘eye to the future’ spring to mind). And indeed the tactic paid off, when Briggs rewarded his manager with a well struck shot on the turn came off the underside of the bar and possibly crossed the line (inconclusive video evidence), but Ryan Lilley on the follow up made sure anyway.

Not one that will live long in the memory banks then. Stuart Bingham, David Heald and Daz Davies were probably the pick of those in orange shirts, and young Matt Conway made a promising debut from the bench. But Greg Bricknell’s vision and trickery rendered him head and shoulders above anyone else on the park.

Villa line-up: Baxter, Davies, Dickenson (Ormerod) L.Chambers, Bolton (Briggs), Heald, Bingham, Loughlin, Stewart, Mason (M.Conway), Lilley