Chairman hails Canaries heroes (From Asian Image)

Chairman hails Canaries heroes

3:01pm Monday 2nd June 2008 in Sport

Preston's Canaries are the UK Asian Community Cup champions after a thrilling night in Stamford Bridge.

In a pulsating game Canaries came from behind to beat Birmingham's FC Smethwick in the final held at the home of Chelsea.

Chairman Zuber Bargit said, "We are immensely proud of the team for achieving this amazing feat. They did Preston proud."

The game was originally planned for Bank Holiday Monday but was cancelled at the last minute due to a waterlogged pitch and played 48 hours later. It meant some supporters missing the game altogether. Others made the journey twice to watch their team in action.

But the weather didn't dampen the Canaries' spirits as goals from Mohammed Ali, Zubair Mal and Khaser Ahmed fired them to a 3-1 victory.

The pick of the goals was a diving header by one of the smallest players on the pitch - Zubair Gatusso' Mal. Canaries are the first team from the North West to be crowned UK champions in this tournament.

Match Report.

Preston's Canaries were crowned UK Asian Community Cup champions in a game that was almost as unpredictable as the build-up.

Canaries started slowly as and let FC Smethwick to get the upper hand. But for all their possession Smethwick failed to create many clear openings. Satbinder Singh Taggar nearly gave FC Smethwick the lead from a stunning free-kick but keeper Dietz saved well.

Minutes later man-of-the-match Mo Ali made a good run before cutting inside and shooting just wide. This was followed by another Ali counter attack in which he drifted past two players before crossing to Daryl Noble who controlled the ball on his chest only for keeper Sandip Singh Dhesi to save.

With interval approaching Sean Williams gave Smethwick a deserved half-time lead.

If Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was looking for new man to motivate Chelsea he needn't have looked far. Canaries player-manager Abdul Rauf was absolutely livid with his team's performance. And his half-time team talk seemed to have done the trick.

Within minutes keeper Dhesi's clearance went straight to Canaries captain Zubair Mal who headed towards striker Ali. He held off a challenge by Sandip Singh and calmly slotted the ball home.

On 67 minutes Canaries were awarded a free-kick inside their half. Jav Mohammed sent a high ball towards Faz Khan, which broke nicely for Khaser Ahmed. He pulled the ball back for Junaid Kalang to deliver a pin-point cross to the advancing Zubair Mal, who scored with a diving header to the Prestonians' delight.

As Smethwick pressed for an equaliser the unlikeliest of fwlloes - Faz Khan - cleared off the goal line.

With less than five minutes left another Canaries counter-attack saw Khaser Ahmed round the keeper and put the game out of reach.

Chairman Zuber Bargit said: "I am delighted with the win and proud of everyone associated with the club. The victory was for the numerous supporters who made the long trip originally, only to be disappointed when the game was cancelled and had to be re-scheduled. I hope we can take this into the new season."