Pullen’s sights on final glory

FOOTBALL:

NO sooner has one DP departed Boundary Park than another one returns as Oddies take on Coppice United in the final of the D&J Builders (North-West) Ltd Oldham Sunday League Challenge Cup at Boundary Park tonight (7pm).

And while Dave Penney’s days as manager of Athletic are over, it is Dave Pullen, the manager of Oddies, who will be in the technical area.

He is part of a three-man management team who have been together for 15 years.

And Pullen, Nick Parry and Wayne Mayberry are looking forward to the final as all three are lifelong Athletic fans.

Pullen said: “We can’t wait to get out onto the pitch. It will be a brilliant night for us.

“Some of our lads have played at Boundary Park before but, for us three, it will be the first time with a team.”

Coppice United are no strangers to Oldham Sunday League finals, but their record is not great.

They were beaten in last year’s Challenge Cup by Chaddy End, they lost to High Crompton CC in the premier division shield and were defeated in a penalty shoot-out to Oddies in the President’s Trophy.

Yasser Farooq, the Coppice secretary, said: “We are all really looking forward to it and it would be nice to break our cup-final duck, but these are one-off matches and you just don’t know what will happen.”

The squads —

Coppice United: N Ali, Johnson, Y Ali, Rashid, Kameel Ahmed, Younis, Jawaid, Farooq, S Ali, O’Connell, Kessar Ahmed, M Ali, Khaliq, Miah, Hannan.

Oddies: Lunt, Dawson, Ashworth, Wild, Hill, Taylor, A Cropper, R Cropper, Conroy, Crothers, Dolmor, Grimshaw, Slowe, Savin, Spencer, Perry.