2009 FA County Youth Cup Final: Kent Youth FA Lose at krbs Priestfield

The FA County Youth Cup is a tournament in which all the county associations across England field a U-18 team and play to be the best county in England.

And in the 2009 FA County Youth Cup, the final took place on Saturday 2nd May at the krbs Priestfield Stadium, the home of Coca Cola League Two club Gillingham FC.

This meant one finalist, Kent FA, were on home soil, looking to break their duck and win the tournament for the first time in their history.

The other finalist, Birmingham FA, who were the visitors, had been rather more successful down the years and were looking to win the tournament for the fourth time in their history.

Here is a full recap of all the action that took place in the final on Saturday:

On a warm Saturday afternoon at the krbs Priestfield, the Birmingham FA lifted the FA County Youth Cup trophy for the fourth time in their history with a 2-1 win over Kent FA.

After beating the Isle of Man FA 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the semi-final, Kent made the worst start as it was Birmingham who took the lead.

Marvin Johnson put the Midlands team ahead after just four minutes gone.

After an attack down the right, a high ball into the box was only partially cleared by the Kent defence, with the ball dropping nicely for Johnson, who smashed it home from 10 yards.

Both sides had goalscoring opportunities after that, but it was Birmingham who seemed fairly in control.

That was until the 40^th minute, when Sam Cliff managed to pull the scores level and put Kent back in the contest.

After dealing with a Birmingham corner, a quick ball upfield by the Kent keeper caught out the opposition defence, with Cliff latching onto the ball and chipping the ball brilliantly over the helpless Birmingham keeper.

Kent seemed to build momentum from this equaliser, and had another chance moments later when a shot from 25 yards clipped the crossbar.

After the interval the home side continued to press with many decent opportunities, but it wasn't to be a first ever victory in the FA County Youth Cup Final for Kent.

With eight minutes left on the clock, a free-kick chipped into the Kent box managed to float behind the defence and towards Liam Doyle, who made no mistake and guided home a well taken volley.

To add to Kent's woes, they had a player sent off in injury time.

So in the end it was not to be their day at the home of Gillingham FC, with visiting team Birmingham County FA becoming the 2009 FA County Youth Cup Champions.

The following report was taken from my original article on the official Gillingham Football Club website, which can be found here.