ARTHUR’S favourite Birmingham City FC came out on top at the annual Arthur Cup.
The blues went head to head with Solihull Moors on July 23 to kick off their pre-season matches at St Andrew’s stadium in memory of murdered youngster Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Despite Solihull Moors’ encouraging display they were beaten by an Alfons Sampsted strike in the first half.
Sampsted’s effort just before the break decided a good game that saw the National League side push the young guns from the Championship side all the way in front of over 5,000 people with proceeds going to the NSPCC and Moors Foundation to support vulnerable children in the Birmingham area.
Despite it being a friendly – an accidental clash of heads with Alex Whitmore saw Tommy Fogarty forced off before the break – the game was played in good spirit and Matt Taylor’s’ side were unfortunate to go behind on the stroke of half time when the eye-catching Hansson weaved his way down the left and crossed for Sampsted to lash a volley past Laurie Walker for an excellent goal that made it 1-0 at the break.
Both teams changed virtually their entire outfield team in the course of the second half but there was still plenty of momentum in a fast-paced game .
The Blues drew a good save from Walker inside a minute as he got down low to his right to push a well-struck effort round the post and the young home side looked extremely comfortable on the ball but the more direct Moors had their moments as well with Ben Worman and Darius Lipsiuk full of energy in the engine room and Brad Nicholson’s long throws a constant threat.
Solihull Moors said: “Ultimately, the result was unimportant. The big thing was for the clubs to once again meet for Arthur. Our thanks to everyone who made it such a great occasion.”
