Stead's goals pave the way

Brigg Town 3 Clitheroe 0

A goal worthy of any cup final put Brigg Town on the road to a comfortable victory over Clitheroe in the FA Carlsberg Vase final at Wembley today.

Carl Stead produced the piece of skill after 37 minutes, chesting the ball down from a partially cleared corner and then striking it on the half-volley with his left foot from the edge of the box.

It flew into the net giving the Clitheroe goalkeeper, Carlo Nash, no chance at all and Brigg were on the way to a memorable success.

Stead added his second goal in the 65th minute from a well-taken penalty after Neil Baron had appeared to block an attempted shot from Stead's namesake Nathan. It looked a harsh decision but the referee, Stephen Lodge, was right up with the play and had no doubt that the player had handled deliberately.

There was no way back for the Lancastrians when, four minutes from time, Brigg scored a fortunate third goal when Simon Roach cut in from the right and blasted in a left-foot shot. It would almost certainly have been stopped by Nash but the unlucky Steve Lampkin stuck out his left foot and diverted the ball into his own net.

For Brigg, of the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League, this was their finest hour and they might have won by a much bigger margin.

Clitheroe barely managed a shot on target in the 90 minutes and also had five players booked to round off a thoroughly disappointing day all round for them.

Goals: C. Stead (37, 64 pen), Lampkin (86 og).

Brigg Town: Gawthorpe; Thompson, Rogers, Greaves (Clay, 84), Buckley (Mail, 20), Elstone, C. Stead, McLean, N Stead (McNally, 89), Flownders, Roach.

Clitheroe: Nash; Lampkin, Rowbothom (Smith, 73), Baron, Westwell, Rouine, Butcher, Taylor (Otley, 73), Grimshaw, Darbyshire, Hill (Dunn, 59).

Referee: S Lodge (Barnsley). Attendance: 7,340

Bookings: Westwell, Rowbothom, Rouine, Dunn, Butcher.

Man-of the-match: C. Stead.