At the sound of the final whistle, what had been expected for a long time became official: Uxbridge Town AFC are the champions of the Premier League this season. The Lions enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory on the road to last year's champions Blackley Town before hoisting the trophy in front of the few thousand away fans that stuck around after the match. Amidst streamers and a loud ovation from the crowd was captain Stephen Mill holding up the cup surrounded by his teammates.
The match itself was a clinical affair as Lyle Maigny opened the scoring in the 10th minute, blasting home a goal off of a Huenu Barragan corner kick. Barragan added a free kick goal early in the second half as his 47th minute strike curved past the goalkeeper and into the left corner. Maigny put the match beyond doubt in the 89th minute with a shot from just inside the box going into the back of the net, casuing a mass celebration by the team. Wynward Garnis made a pair of saves to get the clean sheet, while Mehdi Florentin was the lone Lion given a booking, drawing a yellow card in the 82nd minute.
In the post match press conference, the usually stoic MacCallum Barry was wrapped with excitement as he praised his team's accomplishment. "From start to finish, this was exactly the season that we wanted to have" said Barry. "The resilience shown by everyone was so very impressive. Anytime we didn't get the result, we went back into training and got it done the following week. It was a total team effort and I could not be more proud of the boys. It has been an absolute pleasure to coach them this season."
Captain Stephen Mill, still only 19 years of age, described the feeling of holding the trophy up as surreal. "It's honestly tough to put the feeling into words" said Mill. "I knew that we were a special group coming into the season, but even I didn't fully anticipate all of this. Our ability to get forward in attack as quickly and efficiently as we did time after time this season is really amazing. Everyone seems to know where to go and what their job is in every situation. It made my job so easy this year. I can't wait to continue to grow and improve with this group of guys."
The man who scored the clinching goal, Lyle Maigny, is in his 16th season of professional football and is at long last a league champion for the first time in his career. The 33 year old was ecstatic about the accomplishment. "It really feels like a dream come true" said Maigny. "I have poured my soul into this game and have always come up just that little bit short at the end of the year. This year really did feel different from the start. And from the moment we moved into the top of the table, it felt like we could do no wrong. I cannot wait to get back to Uxbridge to celebrate this with our fans. They have been incredible all year and deserve to enjoy this moment along with us."
It will be a party atmosphere in West London when the Lions return home next week to finish their season against the Hoofwanking Bumblers, who sit at the bottom of the league table.
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