A jubilant Woods said afterwards: “It was a fine team effort from the youth to triumph yet again over the seniors.

“My strike partnership with Eni Gesinde, running that line outside 13, proved decisive, as well as some exceptional goalkeeping from Geoff Parling.”

In a fiercely competitive Astroturf clash it was clear that pride was at stake as goalkeeping legend James Grindal acrobatically saved a Toby Flood header.

But the resistance did not hold out long as Woods grabbed the opener just five minutes in, Micky Ward dawdling in possession to allow Woods a one-on-one scoring chance from which he made no mistake.

The second was an equally spectacular strike as Woods charged down a hurried clearance from goalie Grindal, and the youngsters went in to a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead when Gesinde stroked home from ten yards out.

The seniors, however, were far from done, as they demonstrated by scoring their first goal on the half hour with hooker Andy Long making the most of a defensive mix-up to beat Parling on the near post.

A hand of God intervention by David Wilson threatened to tarnish referee Richard Metcalf’s control on the game, but the first half came to a fitting climax with virtually the last play as Ollie Phillips tapped in for the second goal after Parling palmed a John Rudd shot in to his path for a 3-2 interval scoreline.

The second half saw the oldies make the most of their resurgence to draw level via a thunderbolt of a free kick from Tom May in to the top corner, setting the scene for a nailbiting finale.

Director of rugby John Fletcher reacted angrily to being substituted by manager Lee Dickson, having just seen his strike disallowed for offside.

Parling kept the youngsters in it with a marvellous double save, and despite some wayward shooting from Flood the youth finally got the edge on their elders in the dying moments as Woods scored the winner from a crossed ball.

Matt ‘Viduka’ Burke entered the field for a late cameo to wow the crowds with his wing play, but in the end it was the juniors who took home bragging rights.

“It’s capped off a great week,” said director of rugby John Fletcher, who inexplicably started for the ‘youth’ team.

“The backs beat the forwards at cricket on Wednesday, I whalloped Peter Walton at golf on Thursday and then I was clearly the star player for the academy in the football today. It doesn’t get better than that!”

Seniors football squad:

James Grindal (in 80s Coventry Cup final kit)
Tom May
Phil Dowson
Joe Shaw (player manager)
John Rudd
Matt Thompson
Micky Ward
Ollie Phillips (labelled ‘traitor’ by youth team mates)
Mark Sorenson
Andy Long
John Stokoe
Hall Charlton
Anthony Elliott
Mike McCarthy

Juniors football squad:

Geoff Parling
Andy Buist (sporting a bandana)
Toby Flood
John Fletcher (clearly not ‘youth’)
Eni Gesinde (hitting that line outside 13)
Ross Batty
Ben Woods (orange-clad hat-trick hero)
Gavin Beasley
James Hamer
Jack Harrison (the only decent footballer)
Ed Williamson
David Wilson (Hand of God)
Johnny Williams
Mat Tait
Alex Tait (in two different colour boots)