Welling Town were now bossing the first half after a slow start and the post saved Red Velvet in the 18 th minute.

PiotrZachweija then blew his whistle as both teams got ready for an extra thirty minutes of extra time, leading fans wondering who would come out on top or would the game have to be settled the old-fashioned way with penalties?

Ryan Golding scored his 32 nd goal for Welling Town this season, from the penalty spot, to retain the Shield.

Fluidity and flexibility became increasingly important, and De Ligt again acts as a case study. As a clearly gifted youngster, De Ligt rapidly moved up the different age groups in his early teens and was tasked with playing in a number of different positions. He was seen as too slow at receiving the ball and moving it forward so was deployed in central midfield. The short-term loss to the Ajax youth team’s defence has been the senior team’s long-term gain. As Juventus found out, De Ligt has evolved into one of Europe’s most adept ball-playing defenders. The Boots made it 3-1 early in the second half through striker Brima Daramy’s 26 th goal of the season, before Red Velvet striker Harry Taylor scored his 65 th goal in 35 games with a tap-in.Reflecting on their first successful season in the Kent County League, Hedges said: “Tonight’s performance proves with our first season in the Kent League which we’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Coming down here we knew we was competing against one of the top teams in the Kent League and from our point of view we’ve proved that we can compete against the best teams. Edinson Cavani has apologised for posting a message on social media that may earn him an FA ban. “I am completely opposed to racism and deleted the message as soon as it was explained that it can be interpreted differently,” Cavani said. “I would like to sincerely apologise for this.” Both teams were incredible today but only one could win and it’s very sad that the winner had to be decided via a dramatic and cruel fashion! However, there can only be one winner and today’s winnerwas Red Velvet FC who won their first final out of the three they have achieved so far this season! The work behind the scenes of the football club is just fantastic and to get in the SCEFL would just round it off because our five-year plan will then be going in the right direction. But to be fair to us the boys dug deep, have a never say die attitude and I felt we got stronger after we did concede that goal. Considering we had players coming off with injuries it was a bitter pill to swallow but we got over it and I think we proved when we conceded that goal, what a good team we are, just to complete throughout the rest of the second half.”

PUNJAB UNITED manager Chipie Sian has appointed Simon Green and Alan Foreman to manage the Gravesend based club’s under 23’s next season and has snapped up winger Aaron Rhule, 27. Significantly, this is the first time the club have gone deep in the competition since 2010, when Johan Cruyff and his band of loyal disciples ripped up the Ajax blueprint and started it all over again. The period, which ended with Cruyff’s ousting in 2015, came to be known as the Velvet Revolution, and it was during these years that the seeds for the current success were planted. Daramy missed a sitter for Welling Town when he slid his shot past the foot of the post after Peter Smith pinged another sublime pass this time to Golding who put the ball on a plate for his team-mate, who was under pressure though. Red Velvet keeper Liam Barnes made a vital save when he spread himself at his near post to prevent Daramy scoring as he cut into the box from the right-hand side. DARTFORD recently appointed manager Alan Dowson has retained the services of Sam Odaudu, who was captain of the Academy for the past three seasons and spent a loan period at Isthmian League Premier Division side Margate last season.Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our letter o’the day prize is … Fin Crawford (aged 18), who wins a copy of The Got, Not Got Football Gift Book – Every Fan’s Catalogue of Desires, by Derek Hammond and Gary Silke (postage available to UK only, sorry – Fiver Postal Ed]. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Köln waited 267 days for a Bundesliga win and when it came it was a big one against Borussia Dortmund, writes Andy Brassell. And Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Friday is under threat after Steve Bruce had to cancel training due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among his players and staff. STILL WANT MORE?