Old Bradwell United manager David Keene has spoken to Sports Shots ahead of the 2025/5 Charles Twelftree Trophy Final.
Keene’s side head to Slough Town Football Club on Wednesday evening (11th March) to face the Trophy’s current holders, Westwood Wanderers.
Talking to Sports Shots ahead of the game, the United boss was in reflective mood, and, as always, remembered Aaron Murray.
I think if you had told us this two months into the season, we would have thought you were mad. As with the start of all seasons, new players come in, players go out but we reached a fairly settled squad by the time the county cup kicked off. Given the churn of players and the number of young players we have, getting to a final is a great achievement. This is our sixth final, seven if you include the voided Challenge Trophy due to Covid, in my time. It is our third county cup final, having won the Senior Trophy the very last time it was played in 2019, and this one back in 2023 as part of our treble winning season. It would be remiss of me not to mention that this is the first final we have reached that Muzza (Aaron Murray) has not been about for, a huge loss for the whole club and, someone who is always missed but more so on occasions like these, which he lived for.
The team from Abbey Road have been in good form, with Keene highlighting the qualities that has seen his side get to the final.
We have been defensively good all season and we have added more goals in recent weeks. We have been on a good run and have lost two in the last 15 or 16 games. This has moved us up the table and got us to the final.
So what does Keene know about his opponents on Wednesday evening?
Not a huge amount, but they won this competition last season and I believe have won all seventeen games in the league this season. So are clearly a very good team. They are also more familiar with the astro turf surface than us, so will be a very tough test.
Keene revealed the team news heading into the game.
Louis Filler has gone travelling. He actually leaves the day before the final so that’s a shame as he has been excellent and forged a very good partnership with Brandon up front. Assuming no knocks from Saturday’s game, we should be as close to full strength as we can be. To be honest, a tough squad to pick and there will be four or five players unlucky not to make the squad.
The United manager has given outstanding service, not just to his club, but also to local football. Something that the county FA should look to recognise.
Rebuilding teams, and squads, is hard work, but does bring satisfaction when you are able to see the improvements and do things like get to finals. In getting to this point with a very new squad has been a great achievement. I am almost 14 years in this job and approaching close to 470 to 480 games, but I still enjoy it, and these last two seasons have been rewarding given the young players we have been able to bring through. As always thanks to Sports Shots for their coverage of all football at our level. It’s always appreciated.
We would like to thank David for his time and wish him all the best for Wednesday evening.
