EIGHT Man Basingstoke Royals won the North Hants Saturday Junior Cup final thanks to a 4-2 victory over Twentyten Reserves.

The beaten finalists started as massive underdogs in the game at Whithchurch United’s ground, but it also did not end well for the winners, as they had two players sent-off in the final 15 minutes and also lost their goalkeeper to injury.

Twentyten set out their stall to stop the favourites scoring, but after 19 minutes a Steven Price cross eluded Mark Smith and Coby Judd fired into the bottom corner.

Soon after, Twentyten’s Dan Hancock put a good chance over the bar, before the Royals scored a second just before the break.

Craig Barker was the provider and Stephen Horton produced the finish past goalkeeper Darren Gary. Royals then went 3-0 up early in the second half, when Barker scored from a harsh looking penalty for hand ball.

On the hour mark, it became 4-0, when Price held off his marker, following another through ball from Barker. After this Twentyten began to look the better side and Franklin Spacagna scored from a free-kick. Jack Barrett pulled back another goal from a corner, before Spacagna hit the bar and Olly Lacey shot straight at goalkeeper Ben Gardner, who had replaced the injured Nick Willcock. This reduced the Royals to 10 men as they had used all their subs.

With 10 minutes to go Horton was sent off for using foul language at the referee.

The Royals were then reduced to eight men, when Barker received a straight red card in a scuffle, that saw his opponent receive a yellow. Despite all this, Twentyten were unable to add to their tally and so the Royals won the trophy.

Graham Jenkins, the Twentyten manager felt his team played brilliantly and deserved better.