The U13 Girls football were up at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning to travel to MK Dons Sports Hub to represent both the school and Newport County in the south regional final of the EFL Utilita Cup. Through the success of winning the area final in Bristol in January, the girls were one of four teams left in the UK southern competition. We were aware that we had a tough tournament ahead as AFC Wimbledon, Norwich City and Swindon Town were the opponents that we had to play
First up was Norwich City and although the team were nervous, this was not represented during the game. The team was quick off the mark and the opposition were on the back foot from the get go. Mia scored early and quickly added a second to her scoresheet. The team continued to play quick football with the next goal coming from Liz with Mia scoring to make her hat trick. During the second half, Norwich eased back into the game and scored two goals, resulting in the match finishing 4-2.
Next up were Swindon Town who played some fast-paced football but a goal from Liz disrupted their gameplay. Quick passing and moving from the girls consistently put Swindon under pressure with Alexis and Seren having great attempts on target. The team were awarded a free-kick which saw Isla score a screamer to make it 2-0. Swindon went on to score a goal in the last minute of the game to make the result 2-1.
The last team the girls faced was AFC Wimbledon and after having seen them play in the previous games, we were aware that this was going to be the toughest opponent yet. The team started out strongly with Lily and Robyn demonstrating strong defensive play and Cassie making some fantastic saves as she had done in the previous games. The girls continued to demonstrate resilience and determination in their game play which resulted in the team going 1-0 up with a goal from Liz who had been assisted by some great technical play from Rey. The game finished 1-0 and the final of the competition beckoned.
Winning two games along with a draw saw the U13s placed top of the tournament table, making the final against second placed Norwich City. The final was a different encounter than the game the girls had previously experienced against Norwich, with both teams playing some fantastic technical football. The girls on both teams, knowing that a final against the winners from the north was to be played at Wembley, were spurred on to reach the final The football on display was something to be admired with each and every player on the pitch giving her all. MCS went 1-0 up with a goal from Mia through some amazing football that involved all our players on the pitch. Norwich soon made the score even. MCS had the upper hand over their opponents during the match with a number of shots on target but the opposition goalkeeper kept the girls from scoring. In the last two minutes of the match, Norwich were awarded a corner from some great defensive work, the ball was put in swiftly and deflected freakishly off the back of a Norwich player’s head and spun into the goal. Norwich were now 2-1 up and in the last ninety seconds of the game, the girls gave everything they could to try and score with the Norwich goalkeeper saving everything. The final ended 2-1 to Norwich and the Wembley dream was over for our girls.
The passion, determination, resilience and football ability demonstrated by the MCS girls was a credit to the school and the PE Faculty are immensely proud of all of them.
Squad: Isla Davies, Liz Jackson, Cassie Hart, Lily Cornish, Robyn Evans, Seren Bowen, Rey Aigbe, Mia Chubb, Alexis Waite.
