In front of a magnificent crowd of nearly 500 people Pumas arrived at a immaculate Eynesbury Rovers stadium to play on lovely pitch against a very capable Eunice team.

The first half saw Pumas struggle with the initial exchanges and we picked up a few yellow cards while chasing down some excellent short passing from Eunice through the midfield.

They came out strong and eventually the early possession paid dividends for Eunice who took the lead in the final. But with some hard work and tireless running from man of the match Ondre Odain up front meant that Pumas managed to get to grips (for the most part). This led to the hard working Pumas forward bagging the equalizing goal just before the half time break.

The teams came out in the second half to some superb interaction from all the fans. The Eunice support from the stand behind the goal was fantastic and matched only by the youthful Pumas supporters cheering their team on.

The second half saw multiple changes. Given it was a vets game both teams progressively faded with energy reserves being called on to make it through. But although things slowed somewhat the quality of football continued.

Chance after chance came and went for both sides but the tired legs struggled to find the final touch. The game looked destined to go to penalties but some tactically astute substitutions from Pumas head coach Martin Back brought some much need energy back to the Pumas ranks with Danny Hall & Phil Morris pressing well and intercepting the Eunice passing game.

This energy boost, along with the solid work from the midfield lads like Gerard Evans & Martin Aldred, over 75 mins really started to work in Pumas favour. But with time marching on it looked inevitable that this game was going to be decided on penalties.

However Pumas were not done. This rediscovered energy boost from players like Ondre, Nucci, Danny, Phil and Terry led to yet another chance for Pumas and with Ondre still running tirelessly we broke through on the right hand side, placed a ball into the box from Terry Rhodes which ultimately ended up in the back of the net, possibly an OG but we didn't care and the Pumas faithful went wild with delight !!

With only minutes remaining there was more drama with our rocks at the back, captain Vinny Price and Karl McPolin having to be replaced as they were completely spent. But Adam Emery and club captain John Regan stepped into the defensive roles to repel the last couple of Eunice attacks.

....and then it came ..... The FINAL WHISTLE !!!

PUMAS ARE CHAMPIONS!!

The team and the Pumas Crowd went nuts. What a game, what fantastic support and what a night of celebration that ensued !

A huge congratulations to all involved. Pumas first County Cup success after 3 previous finals across multiple age Groups.

Thank you all for your fantastic support

#GOPUMAS