TWO brothers have made football history by guiding their teams to Trowbridge and District League cup finals in the same season.
Vernon and Adrian Giles, from Trowbridge, are believed to be the first siblings to take their respective teams to two finals since the formation of the league in 1897.
Vernon, 46, is manager of Division Two outfit AFC Trowbridge Town Youth Reserves, who play Westbury United A in the final of the Division Two Cup on April 25 at Warminster Town. Younger brother Adrian, 41, is player-manager of Division Three underachievers The Stiffs, who upset the form book to qualify for Tuesday night's final of the AM Print and Copy Spring Cup at Meadow Lane.
The Stiffs will face current league leaders and competition favourites Bradford Town Reserves, and Adrian has an injury crisis to contend with. He said: "My star striker Nathan Litterick got hit with a golf ball and may have broken his ankle, his strike partner Christian Player has a groin problem and my goalkeeper has gone to Holland for three months.
"People have been saying we will get beat 15-0 so I guess we're hoping for a minor miracle." Adrian will look to his son Christopher to score the goals under the floodlights at Meadow Lane. Meanwhile, older brother Vernon is deep in preparation for his side's first ever adult cup final.
He said: "This is our first season in the league so to get to a final is brilliant for the team.
"Eleven members of the squad have been at the club since they were six years old and there will be six 15-year-olds in the team for the final. "I think it must be a first for two brothers in the same league to take their teams to a cup final in the same season.
"We are both really pleased for each other. The whole family will be at the two finals cheering us both on and let's hope we can make it a double success," he said.
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