Westfield manager Ian Selley was delighted to see his side end the season with silverware after beating Badshot Lea 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Aldershot Senior Cup final at National League Aldershot Town’s EBB Stadium.
The victory was the perfect response after the Yellas’ promotion hopes ended with a 3-2 defeat at Marlow in the Isthmian League South Central Division play-off semi-finals.
“I'm really happy,” said Selley. “It's been a long season. The lads have been superb. The club's been fantastic. We're all disappointed from last Wednesday (against Marlow) but that's in the past now and the lads moved on. We didn't play particularly well but I think overall we probably edged it. I'm just really pleased they've got some silverware. They've been superb all season. It's been a great season for us all and I’m really pleased they got something for the club.
“Obviously having such a knockback (against Marlow) is tough because we all care and wanted to get promoted. The players started a little bit slowly (against Badshot Lea) – which we expected them to. We didn't train since the semi-final. It's up to them to pull their finger out and get the result. We started slowly and were a little bit sloppy, but I thought in the second half we were much better. We got more of the ball and kept more of the ball. For the first time in a long while we got the luck with penalties and we went and won the trophy. We're really pleased that we've won something for the club.
“We knew that Badshot Lea can play football. They've done it all season. Badshot Lea are a good side – a good footballing side. We've got players in our team that can play as well and there were certain times in the game where we were very good. It was a typical end-of-season game but it's just about getting the result. It wasn't the most entertaining of finals but we've won the trophy and in five years' time no one will remember the game – they'll remember that we won it. It's a good way to end the season because the club's been amazing, the staff have been fantastic and the players have been superb. I'm really pleased everyone's got something at the end of it.”
Westfield finished in fifth place in the Isthmian League South Central Division this season. Selley is happy with his side’s campaign, and is already looking forward to next season.
“We've almost got a new squad of players,” said Selley. “We've mixed it with a few more seniors – which has helped massively in the changing room and on the pitch. We need to rebuild so we'll be talking to the players. We're wanting to invite everyone back in next season and see how we start pre-season. There will be one or two who come through the door to strengthen us. You never really get any time off as a manager. Once the season finishes you might get a couple of days but if you're too slow in speaking to players then players have gone somewhere else. We've got a hit list of players that we want. We'll start all over again and slowly build for pre-season.”
Selley is expecting the Isthmian League South Central Division to be a stronger competition next season, and is looking forward to the challenge of building on this season’s achievements.
“I think the league will be a lot better next season,” said Selley. “I think there's probably going to be ten to 12 teams that will have more of a budget than what we have. We have to select players wisely – like we did this season. It's going to be competitive. The good thing is with ten strong teams in the division they're going to take points off each other. It's going to be similar to this season but I think it will be a lot harder. I think there's some good players coming into the division. There's some big teams that haven't gone up so it's going to be very tough. We'll have to make sure that we prepare and get the right players in to do better than what we did this season. It's important that the club keeps stepping forward. There's no point in having a high and then next season having a low, so it's important that we keep building. Everything's gone according to plan this season apart from one game. It's been a good season.”