14 1GG Monday May 23 2022 | the times
thegame
EDDIE KEOGH /THE FA/GETTY IMAGEStumbled over in the area, but
Wrexham’s shouts for a penalty were
waved away.
Wrexham also started the second
half brightly, but Bromley showed
more cutting edge and scored the
only goal in the 64th minute. The
substitute Joe Partington lofted a ball
in behind to Corey Whitely, the
liveliest player on the pitch, who
dashed forward and laid it off for
Michael Cheek.
The striker opened his body and
put Bromley ahead to spark wild
celebrations.
Earlier, Newport Pagnell Town
lifted the FA Vase for the first time
with a 3-0 drubbing of Littlehampton
Town. Kieran Barnes opened the
scoring with a left-footed half-volley
in the 19th minute, before the
Littlehampton player-manager
George Gaskin was carried off on a
stretcher after a nasty collision.
Littlehampton failed to recover
from that blow and two goals from
Ben Shepherd sealed victory for
ninth-tier Newport Pagnell.Not long after his Sunderland side
had secured promotion, a surprisingly
sombre Alex Neil put his beer down
on a table and then matter-of-factly
declared: “I will have a very good
drink. I will have a hangover for a
couple of days. Then I will think
about the Championship.”
The Sunderland owners also have
plenty of thinking to do. First there is
Neil’s own position. The precarious
nature of being the Sunderland
manager was thought to be the
reason why Roy Keane turned it
down in January after Lee Johnson
became the latest one to be axed. Neil
is on a 12-month contract that expires
in February and his star is on the
ascent.
“I’ve only been here a short time,
but there’s a real bond,” he said.
“Whatever happens next, happens
next. I want to be at Sunderland, I
want to take it forward and there’s
massive scope still for us to go.”
The most pressing issue that
Keeping Neil
priority for
Sunderland
Sunderland should address is the
three-way split in the ownership of
the club with no one party having a
majority stake. It is an ownership
model that is a recipe for Sky Bet
Championship stagnation at best:
something fans will soon tire of.
The single largest owner, Kyril
Louis-Dreyfus, who owns a 41 per
cent stake, says he wants to take full
control. The 25-year-old Frenchman
still has deep enough pockets, with
the asking price having risen sharply
as Neil’s team finished the season on
a 16-game unbeaten run culminating
in their deserved Wembley triumph.
“I just want people to give me what
I need to do the job as best I can,”
Neil said. “Whether it’s split, whether
it’s an individual, three of them or ten
of them, I’m not really bothered.
That’s for them to sort out.”
When his hangover has cleared, the
40-year-old will hold talks with the
owners, as well as several key players
who are out of contract, such as
Lynden Gooch and Patrick Roberts.
One player who must stay is Ross
Stewart, who scored his 26th goal of
the season to seal the game. The 25-
year-old has a year left on his
contract, having signed from Ross
County for £300,000, and lived up to
his nickname of the “Loch Ness
Drogba” on Saturday.
They will also want to keep Jack
Clarke, the 21-year-old on loan from
Tottenham Hotspur, who came off
the bench for another promising
player — Elliot Embleton, a surprise
starter who banged in Sunderland’s
first goal after 12 minutes.
Former chairman, player and part-
owner Niall Quinn was prominent at
Wembley. It is not yet the “magic-
carpet ride” that Quinn used to talk
about on Wearside, but Sunderland
fans know all too well which way that
goes when the magic suddenly stops.The Wrexham story took another
twist for Ryan Reynolds and Rob
McElhenney on Sunday — but not
one they would have wanted. Backed
by several famous faces and a raucous
travelling support at Wembley, they
fell to a 1-0 defeat to Bromley in the
FA Trophy final.
It was another blow for Wrexham,
who came into this game having
missed out on automatic promotion
to the Football League on the final
day of the season. Phil Parkinson’s
team will hope to return to London
for a play-off final in two weeks’ time,
but, for Bromley, this was a
vindication of Andy Woodman’s
patient approach.
Woodman had said that he would
receive some “pearls of wisdom” from
his close friend Gareth Southgate,
and whatever the England manager
said must have helped. Bromley
weathered the storm against
Wrexham — just — and wereBromley steal script from Wrexham A-listers
rewarded with a first FA Trophy
success after losing the 2018 final on
penalties to Brackley Town.
Rarely has the FA Trophy final felt
so glamourous, with the Wrexham
co-owners Reynolds and McElhenney
both in attendance. They were joined
by David Beckham and their fellow
Hollywood stars Will Ferrell and
Blake Lively, Reynolds’s wife, who
added more stardust to the occasion.
A red flare thrown on to the pitch
before kick-off gave an indication of
what this meant to Wrexham’s fans.
They booed God Save the Queen with
gusto, before producing a deafening
rendition of the Welsh national
anthem.
Wrexham’s players responded with
plenty of energy but little finesse.
Their striker Paul Mullin fashioned
his side’s first clear chance when he
ran on to a long ball and squared for
Jordan Davies, but his low shot was
hit straight at the Bromley
goalkeeper, Ellery Balcombe.
Bromley were happy to sit back and
hit Wrexham on the counter. DaviesSunderland
Embleton 12, Stewart 79^2RATINGS
Sunderland (4-5-1): A Patterson 7 — L Gooch 7,
B Wright 7, D Batth 7, D Cirkin 7 — P Roberts 6,
C Evans 6, A Pritchard 8 (C Doyle 81min),
L O’Nien 7, E Embleton 7 (J Clarke 61, 7) —
R Stewart 7 (N Broadhead 88). Booked Cirkin,
Pritchard.
Wycombe Wanderers (4-2-3-1): D Stockdale 4 —
J McCarthy 5, A Stewart 6, R Tafazolli 5,
J Jacobson 6 — D Gape 5 (A Akinfenwa 75),
J Scowen 5 — G McCleary 5, D Horgan 4
(L Wing 55, 6), J Obita 5 (B Hanlan 65, 6) —
S Vokes 5.
Referee S Hooper. Attendance 72,332.Wycombe 0
LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF FINAL
PAUL ROWAN
TOMÁS HILL LÓPEZ-MENCHERO
Beckham, left,
joins Reynolds
and Ferrell at
Wembley but
Bromley spoilt
the party