1968 LAUNCESTON K.O CUP Final
STOKE CLIMSLAND 5-0 GUNNISLAKE
M.Evely(4) Dave Jasper
Merv or Mick Evely?
Tuesday 7th May
No mistake this time
Gunnislake attacked strongly at the commencement of this final of the Launceston and District K.O Cup at Launceston on Wednesday evening and forced a corner in the first few minutes, but from the corner-kick Sampson headed over the bar. Nevertheless Gunnislake kept up the pressure, but the Stoke defence were giving nothing away and from a Stoke clearance by Pearce a good run down the right by Jasper ended in his centre being met by M. Evely who put Stoke one up.
After Gunnislake were doing most of the attacking Stoke broke away again and after a goalmouth scramble M. Evely shot through a crowd of players to increase Stoke's score. Undeterred by this, Gunnislake were still doing the attacking and the Stoke defence had to pull out all the stops to hold the active forwards, but just before half-time, Stoke broke away again and M. Evely put Stoke three up to secure his first half hat-trick.
After the change-over Stoke began to push hard, having the better of the mid-field play and a hard shot by M.Evely was well gathered by D. Southcott in the Gunnislake goal, but after a few minutes M.Evely ran through the middle, beat three Gunnislake players and placed a shot neatly past Southcott to put Stoke four up.
After this, Pearce the Stoke right-back, had to leave the field with a back injury and Furze came on in his place. During a raid on the Gunnislake goal the ball was partly cleared by a Gunnislake defender, and Jasper, from the right wing, snapped up the chance and drove the ball hard into the corner of the net for Stoke's fifth goal.
Play became rather tame after this, although Gunnislake were still trying to score, but the Stoke defences stood firm and quite easily broke up any Gunnislake attack, and in the closing stages Stoke took command and moved the ball around at will.
Gunnislake became rather irritable near the end and some of their players were guilty of unsportsmanlike tactics, but Stoke players kept their heads and ran out worthy winners.
Stoke Climsland last year shared the cup with Ashwater whom they beat in the semi-finals a few weeks ago, and as the score suggests they made no mistake this time.
In presenting the cup to the Stoke Climsland captain Alan Skeet, Mr J.Hobbs, President of the competition, thanked the two teams for their very hard fought match, and also thanked the Launceston football Club for making their ground and facilities available for the semi-finals and final