A 65th minute goal from Doug Wilkins saw Southend's White Ensign win a national trophy in their first season as an intermediate club with a 1-0 victory over Tring Athletic.
It was a superb piece of skill from Wilkins's strike partner Paul Benson that set-up the goal in the Cherry Red Books Trophy final, a competition for teams without facilities enabling them to play in the FA Vase.
He killed a hard-struck ball in expert fashion and then back-heeled it for the scorer to ram home into the corner.
Ensign, for many years a dominant factor in the Hadleigh Carport Southend Borough Combination before joining the Essex Intermediate League this season, were well-worth their win.
And they delighted their two coachloads of fans who travelled to Hertfordshire to be among the official crowd of 208.
The match was played at the home of Ware FC and Ensign's Alan Day said: "But for an outstanding performance by Tring's goalkeeper Tom Vincent we might have won by three or four goals.
"It was a goal worthy of winning a cup final and obviously we're delighted to have collected such an impressive trophy in our first season as an intermediate club."
Published Monday, April 14, 2003
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