Crookes hold on in last minute to go to Wembley. 2 Crookes AFC Vs Droylsden 1 (aet)Crookes pulled off another upset infront of a full capacity crowd and around 600,000 people watching Setanta Sport 1, putting them in the Final against Blue Square Premier play-off contenders Forest Green Rovers at the one and only Wembley. It didn't start well for the underdogs as they went 1-0 down after 12 minutes to a well worked goal by Droylsden and they kept at Crookes and looked as if they were going to Wembley themselves but an inspiring team talk by manager Darling seemed to have worked and they came out all guns blazing and were rewarded in the 77th minute when 17 year old wonderkid and the managers son, Joshua Darling JR scored a superb goal taking it past 3 defenders and rounding the keeper to make it 1-1. It stayed like that till the whistle and extra time was needed to separate the teams, a save from Crookes Jason Healy kept them in the game but the hero on the day came from the most controversial player on the pitch, when Fabian Taylor put Onandi Lowe through in the 117th minute to make it 2-1 and send Crookes to the final of thier first trophy in there 5 year history, they were only registered as a semi-professional team last year. In an interview after the game Darling said "It was great to get this far, and I thik we can go one better, The lads are loving it and so am I and lets not forget the fans, after all, Its not everyday you get to go to Wembley, but hopefully in the future we could make it our second home."
Setanta Shield Semi-Final other results
Aldershot 1-1 Forest Green Rovers
Forest Green Rovers win 4-2 on Penalties
Neil Lennon playing for Celtic as Captain. Crookes close in on ex-Northern Ireland InternationalCrookes are set to sign 36 year old ex-Northern Ireland International Neil Lennon. Neil Lennon is currently playing for Nottingham Forest but has been a out of the first team and says he would like to step down a few divisions to get first team football, his contract runs out at the end of the year a Crookes are one of many lower league clubs after the 36 year old defensive midfielder and we have managed to speak to Lennon about the matter and here is what he said. "Crookes are a great club with a bright future and I would love to be part of at least the beginning of that. I feel that I could make a difference there, Joshua Darling has contacted me and I have expressed my interest but nothing is final until I sign that dotted line." He then went on to say, "Darling is a fantastic young Manager and I would love to finish my footballing years under him. He will definately be managing in the big leagues one day."
