AFTER scooping the Charity A Cup for the past two seasons, The Wanderers were denied a hat-trick of wins by an organised Stockton & Codford, who clinched their inaugural trophy of 2014/15 with a 3-2 victory.

The win for Stockton came after double final defeats in the space of six days last week, both of which came against Alderbury.

A very tight affair was brought into life inside 26 minutes when Alex Davies was judged to have fouled the Stockton forward in the box, and the penalty was coolly converted at the neutral venue of Laverstock and Ford.

The Wanderers had found it hard to break down the Stockton defence but on the stroke of half time equalised through Chris Guthrie’s volley which found its way through a crowd of bodies and into the net.

Things were honours even at the break but what came after the restart left the Wanderers’ cup dream in tatters.

Liam McConnell’s side conceded twice inside 60 seconds. The first came as a result of some hesitant defending and straight from kick off Stockton intercepted possession again and sent their centre forward through on goal who made no mistake for a quickfire third.

The deficit was slashed in half five minutes later, though, after a handball inside the area allowed Andrew Duffy to step up from 12 yards and offer his side a lifeline.

From there on, the holders threw everything they could at the Stockton goal but their defence stood stubborn as their lacklustre cup final run, losing two in six days, was banished.

Player/manager McConnell said: “It was disappointing, we just didn’t perform on the big stage like we have done.”

“It’s been an underachieving season for us, but we are capable of performing better than that, we left it too late. Losing a couple of key players early in the first half didn’t help our cause, but on the day credit must go to Stockton, they were the better side and took advantage of our errors.”

The last Saturday cup competition is the Hospital Cup Final between Amesbury Town and Pewsey Vale at Bemerton Heath Harlequins on May 2 (7.45pm).

  • The Wanderers broke their silverware duck last night with a 4-2 win over Alderbury at Bemerton Heath Harlequins.