It's Hammer time!

HAMMER and Tongs completed a cup-winning treble as the Basingstoke and District League Sunday side beat their Saturday rivals New Inn 4-2 after extra-time in the All Champions Cup.

Saturday's trophy triumph added to the Supplementary Sunday Cup and North Hants Senior Cup won in the last few weeks by the side.

Player/manager Andy Collins admitted that, of the three, this latest success had given him the most pleasure as it meant that, for the second year running, the Sunday league champions had triumphed over their Saturday counterparts.

Collins said: "That was a great win and it is nice to beat New Inn. The guys showed a lot of character. It finishes the season just perfect."

Hammer started the better and deserved their half-time lead which came as a result of Marcus Stapleton firing low into the net after 13 minutes. On 57 minutes, this lead was doubled by a super strike from Ben Nichols.

However, from that point, New Inn had the better of the second half, and got themselves back into the contest with a penalty after Jamie Ballantyne brought down Jon Richardson.

Andy McCluskey put away the spot-kick and, on 63 minutes, the scores were level when substitute Paul Worsfold latched onto a ball over the top to score.

As the game reached the final minutes of normal time, New Inn goalkeeper Andy Lear was forced out of the game and defender Vic Flynn took over in goal.

Extra-time saw Hammer once more gain the upper hand and it was no surprise when they took the lead as Ballantyne fired into the roof of the net after a good pass from Nichols.

Moments later, Ballantyne nearly scored again with a shot from well inside his own area which bounced and went over the bar.

The striker was then dismissed five minutes into the second session of extra-time for a second yellow card after a challenge on Richardson.

Despite being reduced to 10 men, Hammer still managed to add a fourth goal as David Brewer's nice run down the left saw him feed Stapleton and he scored his second.

It was just left to John Horn, owner of Knightsbridge Garage, which sponsors the cup, to hand it over to winning captain Danny Dominy.

Hammer and Tongs: Warren Hopkins, Craig Newman, David Brewer, Kevin Chester, Danny Dominy, Ben Nichols, Ellis Hauman, Mark Rolfe, Jamie Ballantyne, Marcus Stapleton, Andy Collins ( sub Joe Brabbin 64min). Subs (not used): Clint Bassett.

New Inn: Andy Lear (sub Kristian Berry 88min, Vic Flynn, Andy McCluskey, Gary Stockwell, Ben Thame (sub Lee Saunders 60min) , John Hawke, Damian Gowan, Mark Fox, Craig Luckens (sub Paul Worsfold 45min), Bruce Tydeman, Jon Richardson. Subs (not used): Barry Graves.

First published: Monday, May 15, 2006