AFC Bournemouth
Development squad skipper Ben Greenwood has labelled this evening’s final with Basingstoke Town as “huge”.
The 7.45pm kick-off at Fratton Park this evening brings down a curtain on the Hampshire Senior Cup.
Ahead of leading his side out in Portsmouth, Greenwood discussed the clash with afcb.co.uk.
He explained: “It’s huge, especially for everyone that’s been in and around it for the whole competitions.
“If you’ve seen every round, we’ve worked really hard to get here and it would be brilliant to cap it off with the trophy tonight.”
Alan Connell’s team have reached the competition’s summit having overcome varying obstacles in their path.
Both Folland Sports and Tadley Calleva were beaten in the early rounds, ahead of surpassing a strong Portsmouth XI at Vitality Stadium and seeing off Eastleigh away from home in the semi-final.
“This competition brings all sorts of tests and we’ve faced plenty of different ones,” Greenwood said.
“We’ve had some seriously tough games to get us here and it’s been a real grind, but within that, there have been some very good performances.
“I’ve been proud to be skipper throughout that.”
With four games played and just one remaining, the captain also revealed that the side isn’t short of determination to come out on top.
He said: “Every single one of us want this trophy because every competition that we enter, we want to win it.
“We need to put in a good performance to round off the season, but I’ll be proud of these boys no matter what happens tonight.”
For added motivation the development squad needs to look no further than the club’s women’s team, who lifted their Hampshire Senior Cup last night.
A penalty shootout victory ensured the Cherries triumphed over Southampton and teed up Connell’s team to complete a club double.
Greenwood said on the success of Steve Cuss’ team: “I was following along with the game last night and it was a bit squeaky-bum time with the penalties!
“Congratulations to them and, as a club, we want all of the trophies, so for us to do it tonight and make it 2/2 would be massive.”
Ticket information for how supporters can attend this evening’s fixture can be found by clicking here.
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