Meldreth & Histon triumphant in football finals

There was a great turn out for the South Cambs round of the English Schools FA football competitions held on Tuesday 18th October at Impington Village College.

The event for Under-11 7-a-side school teams included three separate competitions; small schools, girl’s and large schools with a total of 36 school teams battling it out for one of the three titles on offer.

All three competitions were played in a round robin format with schools playing all of the other teams in their pool. The top teams from each pool then qualified for the final to determine the winners.

In the small schools competition, for schools with fewer than 120 pupils in Key Stage 2, it was extremely competitive with a high standard of football. The final was a rerun of last years with the teams from Meldreth and Harston & Newton playing out a 1-1 draw which meant the game had to go to extra time and then penalties; again a repeat of last year’s final! Both teams produced a great set of spot kicks before it went to sudden death and only a superb save from the Meldreth keeper could separate the two schools as they won the title for the second year in a row. Both teams will now go forward to the county finals where Meldreth will again be hoping for a repeat of last year when they won the event to qualify for the regional finals.

Twelve teams battled it out in the girls’ competition with the teams from Histon & Impington Juniors and Coton Primary finishing top of the two groups. Histon went into the final as firm favourites having won the title for the last 3 years and not having dropped a point all afternoon. The girls from Coton put in a determined performance and gave Histon a good competitive match but ultimately the quality of the Histon team proved superior as they took the title with a 2-0 victory. They also set an impressive record of 24 goals scored and none conceded in 6 matches!

In the 7-a-side competition for large schools Willingham made it to the final for the second year running and were hoping to go one better and win the competition this time around. The all boy’s team from Histon & Impington Juniors had other ideas though and with a double victory on the cards they didn’t disappoint with a single goal proving enough to earn them the title of South Cambs Champions.

The winners and runners up in each competition will now go onto to represent South Cambs in the County Finals in February where they will compete against the winners from the other districts for the chance to qualify for the ESFA regional finals.

The following schools earnt praise for their good team spirit and respect of the referees with Spirit of the Games awards presented to Barnabas Oley (small schools), Coton Primary (girls) and Melbourn Primary (large schools).

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager, said “The event was a great success with a good standard of football on display and the drama of a penalty shoot-out in one of the competitions. We were delighted to have so many children involved, they all represented their schools with pride, showed great respect and sportsmanship and left having had a really enjoyable day. We must thank Impington Village College for hosting the event again this year and the football scholars from Cambridge Regional College and the Histon Football Academy at Impington VC who did a fantastic job in refereeing all of the matches with such authority and confidence.”

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ESFA Football Full Results 2016