Staxigoe cruise to memorial cup win
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CASTLETOWN .................... 0
STAXIGOE UNITED ............. 4
CASTLETOWN’S cup fairytale finally ran out of gas as they were dismantled by Staxigoe in a one-sided final.
The stage had been set for the green-and-white hoops to win the Colin Macleod Memorial Cup. Not only did they have home advantage but this was the chance to lift the trophy set up in honour of one of their stalwarts.
Colin Macleod was a Castletown legend, having served the club for many a year. Sadly, Colin died in a road accident in 2010 and the decision was taken to set up a cup competition as a tribute to him.
This was the first time Colin’s club had reached the final and the script for a fairytale was ready to be written – until Staxigoe decided to pen their own story.
After all, Staxigoe went into this final as the cup holders and no doubt they fancied having it in their trophy cabinet for another 12 months.
Admittedly, Castletown were up against opposition that are in a higher division but, having already taken two top-flight scalps en route to the final, hopes were high of another shock.
Staxigoe put up a professional display, keeping hold of the ball for long periods, letting Castletown chase them and then swiftly breaking when gaps appeared.
Castletown spurned a golden opportunity inside the first two minutes. A corner from the right found Benn Murray who somehow managed to send his free header over the bar.
Murray’s day got worse as he pulled down United’s Martin Banks inside the box. Castletown keeper Lee Kirk spared his team-mate’s blushes as he saved Banks’ poorly taken spot-kick.
Banks was to be redeemed by a huge slice of luck on 20 minutes that led to Staxigoe’s opener. A goalmouth scramble resulted in a clearance hitting the back of Banks’ leg and the ball spun wickedly outwith the reach of Kirk and into the net.
Kirk then pulled off saves from Christopher Green and Gordon MacNab.
Half-time arrived and you would have assumed Castletown would have received a rousing team talk from boss James Robertson to inspire them to have a right go.
If they did, United took the sting out of it within 60 seconds as they added a second goal. MacNab’s shot from outside the box was beaten away by Kirk only for it to fall kindly in the path of Kyle Henderson who duly slotted in the rebound.
From this point, Castletown were chasing shadows.
After 66 minutes, Staxigoe were awarded another penalty when Kirk brought down the advancing Banks. While Kirk was lucky to only receive a yellow card for his last-man foul, he was not so fortunate when MacNab sent him the wrong way to extend United’s lead.
With 10 minutes left, another penalty for Staxigoe – Banks again being the man felled in the box with Karl Mackenzie being the latest Castletown player to upend him.
Up stepped MacNab once more and he reminded spectators of a certain age of Antonín Panenka’s cheeky penalty that won the 1976 Euros for Czechoslovakia with his floated effort making it 4-0.
