Athersley Recreation won the Sheffield Senior Cup final on Tuesday for their manager Pete Goodlad’s father Gerald who died on Sunday.
The 83-year-old, also known as Jed, has been a regular at matches throughout the rise of the club – founded by his son more than 30 years ago – from the Barnsley junior leagues to being the town’s highest-placed and most successful non-league outfit.
“It’s been a very hard week for me with losing my father in the build-up to the biggest game in our history,” said Pete, whose dad took in a game at Sheerien Park as recently as last month.
"But the lads and staff at the club have been fantastic and it seemed like we were destined to win after what happened. My dad would have liked to have been at Hillsborough. He came to all our games. All the lads said they won it for him.
"He was born and bred in Worsbrough Common then spent some time in the army where he met my mother Hilda, who is Austrian. They settled in Athersley 50-odd years ago and the whole family is Athersley through and through."
Despite starting as major underdogs against the cup holders Frickley Athletic, who play two leagues above them, the Penguins produced a fantastic performance – capped by Danny Joynes’ 42nd-minute goal – to become the first Barnsley side to lift the trophy since 1969. Goodlad said: “William Hill had us at four to one to win it and Frickley were four to six favourites. “A lot of people in Athersley were a little bit better off on Wednesday morning. It’s absolutely brilliant."
Full report in this week's Chronicle.
