2nd Place - Staffordshire Y5/6 County Finals - Wednesday 27th November @ St George's Park

After winning the East Staffordshire competition, the boys qualified to compete in the Staffordshire County Finals held at St George's Park. The competition was made up of two groups of 5 who would play 8 minute games against each other - with the top two teams qualifying to compete in semi-finals.

Our first game, saw us play Moor Park (a school from North Stoke), where our boys hit the ground running. After some great feet down the wing, Sonny whipped in a cross for Max B to smash home to put the team 1-0 0 up. Moments later, Max T beat 2 defenders before taking a shot which was saved by the keeper only to fall to Cole who scored the rebound. Cole added the third and final goal of the game after Tyrun zipped down the wing and hit a hard and low cross into the area - the game finished 3-0 to EH.

The second game proved much closer where Edge Hill played against Goresmoor, who were a team from Cannock, in a very tight game. EH were lucky not to be 1-0 down after the first 10 seconds after a mix up at the back. Luckily, the opposing striker hit the post and Charlie F cleared the ball to ease the pressure. The game proved very compact with little clear-cut chances. During the last few minutes of the game, EH found a break through when Sonny hit home after some fantastic work by Max T down the left.

In the third game, Edge Hill faced fellow East Staffordshire representatives Oldfields - who had also started well in the group. It proved to be another close game with both teams nullifying each other. A quick throw resulted in the ball falling to Max B who smashed home to put the team 1-0 up which won the game.

The opponents in the final group game were St Peter's (a team we had never faced before) who had quite a few decent players. Some great defending from Charlie P and Charlie F at the back proved too much for the opposing team which spurred the rest of the team on to continue to create chances. Max T was starting to enjoy himself down the left and this resulted in yet another chance for EH which Cole took advantage of when he smashed the ball into the net after some last ditch defending by the opposition.

After topping their group, EH faced a school called St Teresa's - who were from Stoke - in the semi-final. The boys started off well from the kick-off and continued to show high levels of confidence. As the game went on, our chances were coming along quick with Max, Cole and Sonny dragging shots wide. However, another great piece of football down the wing from Max T saw Cole find himself in the right place at the right time as usual to send the team into the final.

The final was a repeat of the Staffordshire County Cup final from last year as we faced off against Codsall from Wolverhampton. Both teams were full of confidence and believed they could win. Our boys were fantastic throughout and even more so in the final as they continued to play some excellent football and create multiple chances. Unfortunately for us, the chances did not result in a goal as each shot was saved by the keeper or deflected wide by a defender. Codsall also had numerous chances with McKenzie making some first class point blank saves to keep us in the game.

After the 8 minutes, it was 0-0 and the dreaded penalty shoot-out loomed. Cole, Max T and Charlie F were extremely brave to step up and take a penalty and obviously McKenzie in goal too. The penalties did not go our way and we lost the final 2-1 on penalties. 

A fantastic achievement for the team going the whole tournament without conceding a single goal and only losing out on penalties.