Ten-man Didcot well beaten by Fairford

Jack Ellis scored a hat-trick as Fairford Town comfortably beat Didcot Town Reserves to win the Supplementary Cup, with Didcot playing more than 50 minutes with ten men after Jack Hollister was sent off.

It was an uphill task for the Railwaymen at Wilks Park once Hollister saw two yellows in the space of five minutes, with Ellis having already headed Fairford into the lead.

The former Clanfield man went on to complete a treble in the second half, with his strike partner Dan Hale helping himself to two.

The Gloucestershire had been the favourites, having finished fourth in Hellenic League Division One West, compared with Didcot’s eleventh in Division One East. However it is a competition where league ranking matters little, so they would still have been confident of an upset.

Didcot had beaten Penn & Tylers Green, Ardley United, Holyport and Bracknell Town to reach the final, whilst Fairford came past Easington Sports, Highmoor-Ibis, Cheltenham Saracens and Headington Amateurs.

Despite a decent spell of pressure from Didcot early on, Fairford looked the better side, and took the lead after fifteen minutes when Jason Milhench on the left found Ellis with a perfectly-placed cross.

Hale twice just missed the chance to further extend the lead, whilst at the other end Aaron Gray had a good shot saved by Ben Mitchell.

However a spate of yellow cards followed, with Hollister seeing two of them. The first was for a needless late challenge on Steve Hall, before he clattered into the same man, and saw his afternoon ended by the referee.

From there on in it was going to be tough for the mostly-youthful Didcot side, and it got even tougher when five minutes from the break, with Luke Cordery setting up Hale to head past keeper Adam Spurrett and double the lead.

The second half started slowly, but Fairford soon put the game to bed. Jack Ellis beat Spurrett, an unused substitute in the FA Vase final eleven years ago, with a firecracker of a shot, although not quite as impressive the strike that would complete his hat-trick.

Before that though, the fourth was scored by Hale, completing an excellent build-up by his side as they capitalised on Didcot being temporarily down to nine after Joe Parish went off injured. Then Ellis unleashed a shot from a little way outside the box, with Spurrett not in the position to be able to stop it going in.

Dan Hill had a chance to make it six, but his shot from a tight angle was saved, before substitute James Lawrence-Forbes had a strike deflect over off Joel Thompson. Meanwhile at the other end Mitchell kept his clean sheet in tact with a couple of saves off Gray.

And so Fairford rounded off a successful season with cup success, whilst Didcot will reflect on a great run to the final, even if the game itself proved a step too far. They will start the new season under new management, with Mark Janes and Neil McDermaid stepping down.

https://twitter.com/FairfordTownFC/status/726440815178833920

Fairford: Mitchell, Hill, Hall, Townsend (Saunders 76′), Dainton, Cordery, Boucher, Smith, Hale, Ellis (L. Petrie 72′), Milhench (Lawrence-Forbes 73′). UNUSED SUB: Alexander.
Didcot: Spurrett, Wilcox (Kitchener 55′), Boatang (Tanner 55′), Thompson, Parish (McDermaid 62′), Hollister, Robinson, MacDonald, Hoskin, A. Gray, C. Noble. UNUSED SUB: Newport.

Attendance: 165