​AFP end nine-year wait for Rotherham Sunday League crown

They came from 3-1 down to beat nearest challengers Ship Inn 4-3 at Dearne Valley College to land the crown.

It follows a string of near misses for the club, which now operates as AFP Pewter Pot.

Secretary Gary Coughlan said: "Since we last won the league in 2015 we have come runners-up many times and won a couple of finals and lost a couple of finals but the league has eluded us.

“Sunday football is hard, like it is for everybody financially and commitment wise, and this is what the club needed.”

The triumph was especially special for joint manager Scott McDonald, who was a player in the all-conquering AFP side that ruled the roost for many years under Geoff Swann.

"Macca” took over the running of the side when his predecessor left after a sixth straight league title in 2015 and now runs it with joint manager Adam Eades.

The club also has important support from its sponsors and from the Pewter Pot pub.

"Fair play to Macca. He didn’t give up and he has got his rewards now by winning the league,” added Gary.

"We’ve been in pole position for most of this season. Ship have run us close and it was winner-takes-all on Sunday.

“We were 3-1 down at half time due to some shocking defending but then we brought a couple of subs on with half an hour to go and turned the game around."

Strikes from Jamie Austin, Michael Clarke, Jahmal Riley and Liam Royles completed Sunday’s comeback and set the celebrations in motion.

Added Gary: "Although we’ve won the league, we’ve lost in two semi-finals which we ought to have pushed on better in.

" Rest assured we will be giving it another go next year on all fronts.”

Elsewhere, Lord Nelson outscored Knights Development 6-3 in the Premier Division.

In the Championship, the two-way battle for second place between Team Sport and Todwick Villa saw Sport (Mohammend Sane 2, Amir Mohammed, Jamal Yusuf) beat champions Butchers Arms (Matt Bradley) 4-1 to stay eight points ahead of Todwick, who have two games in hand. They beat Manor Hotel 5-1 through Tylers Sylvester (2), Franklin Sorby (2) and Matt Stott.

Clubhouse have won Division One on goals difference after nearest rivals Gallows slipped up in their final game, going down 6-4 to Shakhtar Sheffield. Josh Bennett and Guanna Makin each scored twice in defeat.

Leaders Brecks Snooker, Beighton Magpies and Mill Dam are separated by only five points at the top of Division Two.

James Leake scored seven times in Mill Dam’s 10-2 beating of Bradgate. Daniel Hazlehurst, Nathan Lees and Jake Mason also got on the scoresheet.

Kiveton Park (Michael Clogg 2, Ben Law 2, Darnell Browne, Owen Hartwell, Emmanuel Kengela) beat Aughton Black Bull 7-0 and goals from Brandon Ashforth (2) and Jack Mounsey gave Stag a 3-0 win over Brinsworth Whitehill.