SOLIHULL Moors lifted the inaugural Arthur Cup with a 1-0 win against Birmingham City in a game held in memory of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Callum Howe’s 10th minute header settled the game and came shortly after the whole of the ARMCO Arena united in a period of applause to remember Arthur on six minutes.
The community came together throughout the evening to raise funds for the NSPCC and Solihull Moors Foundation with several off-field activities taking place.
Read more about the full story on the front page of this week’s Solihull Observer
Moors boss Neal Ardley included three trialists in his squad along with Elite Academy players Jack Myatt, Finn Howell, Morgan Owen, and Leo Wood.
Blues named a strong side which included the likes of John Ruddy in goal and international players Juninho Bacuna, Przemyslaw Placheta and Scott Hogan.
On-loan goalkeeper Louie Moulden was busy throughout the 90 minutes and was first called into action to keep out Hogan’s early effort.
However, Solihull took the lead when Howe headed a corner back across goal and looped the ball over Ruddy and into the net.
Moors had a chance to double their lead when Ryan Barnett sprinted clear down the right before crossing for Alex Reid who was unable to keep his effort down.
The home side looked good for their lead at the break as Jamey Osborne saw a powerful long-range effort saved by Ruddy with Blues struggling to create in the final third.
However, John Eustace’s side almost drew level at the start of the second period when Hogan’s header came back off the post from Maxime Colin’s cross.
And Osborne and Howe both put their bodies in the way to make heroic blocks on the line as Blues pressed for a leveller.
Moors remained a threat at the other end and came close to extending their lead when Joe Sbarra’s cross almost inadvertently dropped in as it clipped off the top of the crossbar.
And Solihull keeper Moulden then made a crucial save to deny Bacuna when one-on-one, racing off his line to spread himself and make the stop.
Some neat play between trialist A and Reid then forced Blues goalkeeper Zach Jeacock to tip the ball around the post.
And Callum Maycock’s surging run almost created a second Moors goal only for Reid to shoot narrowly wide from Sbarra’s cross.
Moulden made a late save with his boot to deny substitute Troy Deeney and then prevented Hogan from equalising moments later.
Moors survived a late scare when Marc Roberts headed the resulting corner against the base of the post before Moulden made one final save to keep out Bacuna’s drive as Solihull clung on to lift the trophy.
Manager Neal Ardley said: “Forget what the two teams got from the game, when you see the community coming out for such a tragedy and getting behind it as a local community was something quite special.”
