E.S.F.A. North of England Finals

Manchester

Saturday 20^th March

The day out to the finals began back at Farnborough Road as players and their families boarded the coach on a bright sunny spring morning. The team were proud to be representing Merseyside and would be competing against 10 other counties representatives: Northumbria, Cleveland, Durham, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire, Cumbria, South Yorkshire, Lancashire, West Yorkshire.

The afternoon for Farnborough began with Greater Manchester – Denton West End versus Merseyside, however despite both teams best efforts the opening encounter was scoreless.

Next up were St Edwards R.C. from Cleveland who capitalised on an early mistake by the Farnborough defence and went one nil up. The rest of the game saw Farnborough dominate but unable to grab a vital goal.

Third game saw the team playing Valley Garden Middle School from Northumberland and once again going one nil down. However the team showed great resolve and brought the game back to 2-1 with strikes from Lucas and Rico and the team’s first win of the tournament.

Match four against Westbrook Old Hall school, Cheshire was a completely one-sided event with Farnborough dominating throughout the game. Unfortunately despite all their best efforts Farnborough the game finished goalless.

 The final match was against the league leaders, who had won all their previous matches, Cotsford Juniors from Durham. Farnborough matched the best team in the group and with a great strike from Oscar recorded and impressive final win for the day.

Unfortunately the boys missed out on progressing to the semi-finals by one point. They had done themselves and Merseyside proud and looked as good as any team in the competition. Tommy Conway had enjoyed deputising for an injured George and absent Bailey and the squad all contributed to the team effort throughout the competition.

They must remember that reaching the finals was a fantastic achievement and that they will have benefitted from the experience.