A BIG crowd is expected for the final of the Isle of Wight Challenge Cup between the holders Whitecroft and Barton Sports and Shanklin tonight (Tuesday).
The match, at the Peter Henry Ground, Brading, should provide a fantastic spectacle between the Island's top two sides, with Shanklin just pipping W&B to the Division 1 title on the final day of the league season — at the same venue.
This will be the first time the competition has been played since 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which wiped out the Challenge Cup in 2020 and last year.
It seems an eternity since the last final was played, but W&B won it to make it three on the trot.
The Sandy Lane club — unaccustomed to not winning silverware — will want to end another excellent season with a trophy.
Should they win, W&B will make history by equalling West Wight's record of four in a row, set between 2008-11.
Shanklin, meanwhile, will not want to lose three cup finals in a season, having lost the final of the Hampshire Saturday Trophy (the former Hampshire Intermediate Cup) and the Isle of Wight Memorial Cup, which they lost 2-0 against Brading Town last week.
The Seasiders, who last won the Challenge Cup in 2016, have won the competition ten times since it was first played in 1947, won by Sandown.
Barton Sports, which later became W&B, won it five times — four of them in the early 1970s.
Kick off is at 7.30pm.
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