Ricky Marheineke spoke of his pride after collecting his first trophy as St Ives Town manager last night.
The Saints eased to a 2-0 victory against Eynesbury Rovers in the final of the Hunts Senior Cup.
But Marheineke hopes that lifting county crown does not prove to be the only success of the season for a side chasing promotion in Southern League Division One (Central).
He said: “I’m immensely proud to have been able to win a trophy as manager of such a great football club.
“We did it by producing a professional performance lit up by a couple of terrific goals.
“We knew what Eynesbury were about and the way they would go about things.
“They like to play good football and move the ball around. We were content to let them have the ball in the middle of the pitch and press at the right times.
“I can’t remember them having more than one shot on goal throughout the 90 minutes which pleases me from a defensive point of view.
“We could have won more comfortably, but our conversion rate is something we are aware we need to work on.
“We made five changes to the team, but I was confident I could field a team to win the trophy and that’s how it panned out.
“The big games are coming thick and fast. We’ll enjoy this success, but getting promotion has always been the priority and we now need to ensure we nail down a play-off place.”
Captain Luke Knight set Saints on the way to Senior Cup glory with a brilliant opener midway through the first half before Phil Draycott doubled their advantage early in the second half with an equally as classy free-kick.
Eynesbury boss Mark Ducket was quite rightly upbeat in defeat. He hopes last night’s appearance in the Senior Cup final is the first of many memorable occasions for an up-and-coming club.
Ducket said: “I’m very privileged to have managed my team in a cup final, but we just couldn’t find a way to score.
“It might well have been a different game if we could have taken the couple of chances we had in the first half.
“We played some good football, but goals win games and it was St Ives who got them.
“There is certainly no disgrace in losing to such a well-drilled team from a higher-level. In fact I think they paid us a compliment by the way they set up with a 4-5-1 system.
“My lads were naturally disappointed not to win the trophy, but they’re all telling me that they are determined to make sure we’re back in the final again next season.”
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