United’s Young Gulls will be looking for their third consecutive Gary Else Memorial League Cup Final trophy, as they take on Bridgwater United here at Plainmoor. After winning the league with a 5-2 win over Yeovil Town on the 13th April, Kevin Wills’ side are now going for their third league & cup double, as they face the only side to have defeated them in the league this season in Bridgwater United.
Who’s the Boss? Mo Hopkins has been in charge at Bridgwater United Under 18s for a number of years, leading them to 2nd place finishes in the league in the last three seasons. Hopkins has also been Head of the Under 18s at Yeovil Town, as well as Assistant Manager at both Taunton Town & Tiverton Town, The coach is also Head of Men’s Football at Bridgwater & Taunton College.
Bridgwater’s Season Bridgwater started the season in the South West Counties Youth League in good form, winning their first nine games in a row. Their first defeat came on the 9th December when they went down 1-0 to Mangotsfield United, which was then followed by a 2-2 draw against the Young Gulls in the first meeting between the sides this season. A 4-2 win over Bath followed that draw, before a second defeat came at the hands of Wimborne Town with Mo Hopkins side going down 4-3. United then travelled to Bridgwater, where they suffered their only league defeat of the season, going down 4-2, with the Robins then suffering back to back defeats to end the season, losing 4-2 to Swindon Supermarine and then 1-0 at Yeovil Town to end their season with a record of eleven wins, one draw and four defeats from their 16 games, finishing second with 34 points.
Player to Watch Blake Kearley finished as Bridgwater United Under 18s top goalscorer with 20 goals from his 20 league & cup appearances this season, with a record of 18 starts in those 20 games. Kearley scored in the Robins 4-2 win over United in February, and has scored seven goals in the Gary Else Memorial League Cup so far this season.
Route to the Final Torquay United In their opening group game of this seasons competition, United began the defence of their title with a 2-1 defeat at home to Bath City, with Ashton Ballard getting the Gulls goal. The next group game saw the Young Gulls get back to winning ways with a convincing 4-0 win away at Fairford Town thanks to goals from Andrew Ellis, Ethan O’Sullivan, Jacob Wellington and substitute William Brennan. The final group game saw United into the Semi-Final with a 4-1 win at Swindon Supermarine, with a William Brennan and substitute Cody White brace each getting the job done to set up a rerun of last seasons Final against Mangotsfield United, with Torquay winning the Semi-Final 2-0 thanks to Thomas Chastey & Andrew Ellis, to set up the Final against Bridgwater United.
Bridgwater United Bridgwater got their group off to a flying start with a 7-0 win over Wimborne Town with Freddie Haden (x2), Wess Jenkins, Finlay Koppa (x2), Samuel Scott & Blake Fearley grabbing the goals. Next up was a 5-1 win over Brimscombe & Thrupp, as Blake Kearley (x2), Samuel Scott, Eddie Townsend & Finn Hansford got the job done for the Robins. Hamworthy United fell 3-1 in the next game as a Blake Kearley double along with an Eddie Townsend effort saw the game through, though in their last group game Mangotsfield United beat the Robins 3-2 with Blake Kearley getting both Bridgwater goals. The Semi-Final awaited the Somerset club with Bath City laying in wait, but Freddie Haden & Kamil Rozalski got the goals to see of the Romans 2-0 and set up the trip to Plainmoor to face Torquay United.
Gary Else Memorial League Cup Final | Torquay United Under 18s v Bridgwater United Under 18s | 27/04/24 | KO: 12pm | Ticketing information available HERE | Live commentary via Official TUFC Radio available HEREThe post
NEXT UP | Bridgwater United U18s (H) (27/04/24 12pm KO) first appeared on
Torquay United.
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https://torquayunited.com/next-up-bridg ... 4-12pm-ko/