United will face Penrith in the Cumberland Cup final at the end of the season following their 1-0 triumph over Netherhall yesterday.

Eric Kinder gave us his reaction to the game this morning:

"It was a really bad day weather wise, with what I would describe as horrendous conditions for football.

The pitch looked fine at the beginning, even though we were all set up to play on the artificial surface. The Ref decided at the last minute that the grass pitch would be alright, so we moved on to that.

The wind was howling and it was absolutely pouring down, and it didn't take long for the pitch to cut up at all. In all honesty, it became a bit of a farce.

We went about it in the best way that we could, but it was a very rough game. They set their stall out with how they wanted to play, and they stuck to it.

Fair play to them, they have come this far in the competition and they wanted to go all the way. I think that if I'd been in their position, I'd have played the game the same way. That's not the type of environment that we want to bring our young lads up in though. We were forced to play the game, and we couldn't get any experience in the team, so the lads had to just get on with it.

Looking back, we can put it down to experience for the youth lads. I'm organising pre-season friendly games against local league teams, because they do play the game in a certain way. Some of our young lads will rise to that, and some will hide away in their shells. That helps you to learn about your players, and it helps them to learn about themselves.

On the positive side, three or four of players came out of that game having grown up just a little bit more. Tackles were flying and other things were going on, and it showed me that there is a bit of spirit in the side. I already knew we had that, but to do it against a team made up of amateur men, it takes a little bit more.

I thought Connor Tinnion handled it really well. He was kicked every time he had the ball, but he kept going back for more. Like I say, if I was playing against a team who had the likes of Tinnion in their side, I'd be telling my lads to get physical with him as well, just to see what he was made of. I'm not actually saying that the tactics they used are wrong because, at the end of the day, they couldn't handle him any other way.

Steve Hindmarch really enjoyed himself in midfield. He got himself stuck in, and Dan Wordsworth and Tom Aldred had to put up with a heck of a lot. Matt Duffy really grew up with the treatment he got, and Matt Brown ... well, he doesn't stand for any hassle anyway. Ryan Bowman, up front, must be wondering what on earth he has come in to, but it's a learning curve for them all.

Like I say, even though we have won the semi-final of a cup competition, that is not an environment I want to be in. We were told be there, though, so we got on with it.

The wind had a massive effect on the game, and it made things look even worse. There was a slight slope, and it was very difficult to play up it, and in to the wind. We had plenty of corners in the first half, but we couldn't put one away, and we nearly got caught on the break a couple of times. They will look back and think that they should have had two goals in the first half. One of them, I've no idea how he missed it, because Alex Mitchell misjudged it and the ball fell right in front of their player. Somehow he hit the bar from just 6 yards out.

We got a penalty in the second half and, I have to say, I have no idea what it was for. The ball was sent in to the box and the next thing I saw was Dan Wordsworth on the floor. The Ref blew for an incident, and Matt Duffy put it away.

We held out to the end after that, and I was  really pleased with the way that we kept the ball in the last 15 minutes. We actually looked like a very good side in that period, and especially when you consider what we were having to put up with, conditions wise.

Of course they were desperate to get through, and their bench were on to the Ref for everything, the crowd were very vocal and biased throughout, and it was a typical day out in the local leagues. There's nothing wrong with that, but I just don't want us involved with it. That is not me being arrogant, it's me being professional.

We've got the win, but we will suffer because of it. Woody got a really bad knock, and I can see him being out for at least 3 weeks, if not the rest of the season. It was a 50:50 challenge, and I found myself wincing as soon as they both went in to it. On top of that, Dan Wordsworth has reacted to a punch that he took off their centre forward. Dan is adamant that he did nothing wrong, and I didn't see the incident, so I am happy to believe him. It all came down to what the Ref wanted to see, and he sent both players off, so there's nothing we can do about that. He'll miss three games now.

With 8 Youth League games left I would say that getting to this final has come at a heavy price. I would rather win the Youth League than the Cumberland Cup. That's no disrespect to the competition, because I think it is a great competition for our local teams. However, for our part, it is my opinion that we would be better off without it. It should be down to them to battle out who is the best team in Cumbria.

I'd like to stress that this is all my own opinion. It is not the opinion held by anyone else at the club. The manager, the directors, and others at the club, all hold it in very high regard, so I go along with that. All I will say is that I hope that the suspensions and injuries that we picked up from yesterday don't become the reason for us missing out on the Youth League title. I would never use that as an excuse if we don't go on to win it, but it is a fact.

I think that Netherhall will probably feel that we are an arrogant group of people, but that wasn't the case. We didn't stay behind afterwards for the pie and peas, because we just don't do that. We have a game against Blackpool on Monday, and we had to get the lads home so that they could get away for the one day off they were getting this week. It had changed from finishing at the Sheepmount at 1pm for them, to suddenly having to travel back at 5pm before we could get them away.

I think I've already said, I fully understand why Netherhall did things the way they did. I would also have forced us to play on a day when there would be no senior players and I would also have told the lads to get stuck in, because they had a cup final beckoning.

For us, these lads are working so hard to become professionals, and I've worked so hard to get in to the professional game, that I don't want to take us back to having to play like that. That's why we went there, played the game, and then left, because we are trying to be as professional as we can be."

United: Mitchell, Brown, Wordsworth, Aldred, Duffy, Hindmarch, Wood (Seaton 2), Blake, Tinnion, Bowman (Law 75), Cook. Subs: Jamieson, Lakeland, Dowson.