Bowers United's bid to complete a clean sweep of all three Schweppes Essex Senior League trophies ended in glorious failure yesterday.

Having clinched the championship on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Saffron Walden at Crown Avenue, to add to the League Cup they'd already collected, Pitsea outfit Bowers travelled to Barking yesterday for the Harry Fisher Memorial Trophy final.

Saffron Walden, who finished third in the League, again provided the opposition but had cannily kept some of the more established first team squad back for this latest game.

Bowers went behind after half-an-hour when the ball took an unfortunate bobble off goalkeeper Mark Hardingham to allow Stuart Wardley, who had a spell at QPR this season which ended when he broke an ankle, to lob home the opener.

Tony Cross's Bowers refused to let their bid to become the first team ever to take all three Senior prizes die without a fight and got on terms, inevitably through top scorer David Hope, a minute before half-time.

It was Hope's 45th goal of the season and he's not only retained the Don Douglas Trophy for being the League's top marksmen but has smashed all previous Essex Senior scoring records.

However, even Hope couldn't find the inspiration for Bowers to win through this time and Saffron Walden collected the Trophy when the experienced Marc Das shot home from outside the area six minutes from time.

Man of the match was Walden's Neil Harvey, and Bowers now have the chance to bring their fabulous season to a winning end when they visit Hullbridge in the League on Thursday night.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.