Well I have to say, I'm a bit surprised. No offence to St. Mary's, I've always got on extremely well with them but I just didn't think they would do it. Firstly to get to the Final and then to win it against Renewal, who we all know can be very strong when they put their mind to it.

St. Mary's headed Group D, when all was said and done. The crucial result was a three-two win away at Chawn Hill. I didn't think they would win it. Two own goals and a Jon Jackaman penalty put paid to them and effectively knocked Chawn out of the Cup. By winning their Group, they were awarded a home tie against W&P. They strolled that too having been beaten by the same club in the League the week before. This placed St. Mary's in the semi-final at Aldersley against a rejuvenated Rowley College, whom I fully expected to win. A single Jon Bignell goal in the first half of extra time put St. Mary's in their first ever League Cup Final in their eight year history.

As ever, the League Cup Final was a superb event. The attendance was a little lower than last season, this may have been due to the Champions' League semi-final kicking off simultaneously to our match. Well those who stayed away would have seen a much better game at the Grove than the boring one-nil at Stamford Bridge.

St. Mary's seemed a little more nervous to start than their opponents. This may have been due to Renewal's players experience, most of whom had played in the 2005 final. Nerves were set aside as Josh Blunt flicked on a cross which fell to the 'keeper's right side. The Renewal player did manage to get a hand to the header but the ball escaped his grasp and trickled just inside the post. Solihull were soon back on level terms with, in my opinion, the goal of the game. In fact, Paul Meadows' left-foot shot was so crisply struck, it would get my vote as the best goal scored at a WMCFL Cup Final in the eight seasons we've been going to Halesowen Town. The score remained at one a piece until half time.

Dave Bignell, one of three Bignells playing for St. Mary's put his side in front, only for Renewal to peg back once against shortly after through their own Bignell, Nathan. One of the many long-standing and indeed original St. Mary's players, Nick Sprason, now their captain, put his side into a lead with fifteen minutes left on the clock. Despite battling hard and coming close on several occaisions, Renewal were unable to once again draw level. And with seconds left, St. Mary's fresh-legged substitue Andy Beeson accelerated past Solihull's jaded right-back and shot at the Solihull goalkeeper. Unfortunately, Stuart Hall had earlier been sent off for handling outside his area, but the stand-in keeper saved the shot only for the ricochet to bounce into the net. At this, the tie was settled and St. Mary's, for years the League's whipping boys took the prize and well deserved.

St. Mary's history can be split into two four-year sections. The first four were not too good from a results point of view, with St. Mary's finishing in the bottom two or three. Since then, they have improved year on year getting promoted to Division One and finally winning the Cup.