YAXLEY0

(Under 16 Hunts Cup Final)

YAXLEY’S season came to an inglorious end with a heavy defeat against Needingworth in the final of the Hunts Cup at Huntingdon Town FC.

Having been made to wait four weeks to play this re-scheduled match after floodlight failure caused the original fixture to be abandoned with only seven minutes played, the Peterborough Youth League Division Two champions just never got going.

Finding themselves 4-0 down at half-time, Steve Elsom’s side could find no way back on a night when little went right.

After being on the wrong end of a series of refereeing decisions, the young Cuckoos grew increasingly disillusioned and striker Callum Atkinson made his own protest by walking off the pitch in disgust.

Yaxley assistant manager Angus Black said: “We got absolutely nothing all night and everyone was getting more and more angry with the lack of decisions.

“But after getting battered in the first half we came at them in the second and actually looked like a team which has won the league and banged in 130 goals in the process.

“That was when the incident with Callum occurred. We thought we had won the decision but instead the ref gave them a free-kick.

“When Callum questioned that he was carded and so he walked off in disgust.

“Of course we would never condone that sort of behaviour but I could understand his frustration as the referee certainly did not help us one bit.”

But Black was the first to admit that the long wait to contest this fixture was the main reason for a disappointing Yaxley display.

He added: “The biggest factor has been the four-week wait for this game.

“It has been hard to keep the lads focused for this one and we needed to be right on it against such a good side.

“But to get to the final has been a great effort and we are proud of all the boys’ efforts this season.”

Despite this defeat, Yaxley can reflect on a smashing debut season in which they roared to the league title with a 20-game, 100 per cent record.