NETHERTON finally came away from a cup final at Chestnut Avenue with some silverware after an Adam Scotcher penalty secured the PFA Senior Cup against Lord Westwood yesterday.

A solid, if unspectacular, performance from Roland Dean's side meant the PFA's showpiece trophy finally found a legitimate home after the debacle surrounding Lord Burghley who had been Netherton's opponents the first time this final was played three weeks ago.

On that occasion Burghley beat Netherton 1-0 but were later stripped of the crown for fielding an ineligible player in Blackstones centre-half Richard Jones.

So in their second bid at lifting the trophy Netherton faced a Westwood side suddenly looking at the very real prospect of seeing their season end in unexpected glory.

But with Scotcher's third-minute penalty proving to be the decisive act in the game it was perhaps fitting that Netherton were the victors following the disappointment of losing out to Jubilee North End in the Hereward Cup on Friday night.

Dean said: "We were gutted after Friday and we did collapse a bit against Jubilee which was disappointing so all the lads were fired up for this one and we were determined to win.

"After all the stuff with Burghley it has been tough for us but we have kept our focus and beaten a very good Westwood team in this final.

"I thought we won it with our first-half performance but they certainly had a real go at us after the break and had it not been for our keeper Dave Beeney we could easily have missed out."

And how true that was.

After the first half in which Netherton dominated what few chances there were, Westwood made a real fist of it after the break forcing the Netherton custodian into a series of match winning saves.

First up Beeney denied Dan Wilder with a stunning reflex save from the forward's bullet header after great work from Joe Duffy down the left before twice denying Andrew Bradley when he seemed certain to score.

And when he wasn't keeping the ball out himself, Beeney's post stepped in.

With seconds running out Ben Lawrence's ferocious low drive seemed destined to force extra-time but all cheers swiftly lodged in throats as the ball hit the upright and rebounded to safety.

Westwood manager Scott Stirrup said: "We did all we could to get back into it after the break but Billy was in superb form for them between the posts.

"We were also unlucky with that shot at the end. I thought it was going in.