Great performances all round at ESFA football competitions

There was a great turn out for the South Cambridgeshire round of the English Schools FA football competitions on Tuesday 20th October.

The event for Under-11 school teams included three separate competitions; small schools, girl’s teams and an open 7-a-side competition with a total of 39 school teams battling it out for one of the three titles on offer.

The competition organised by South Cambs School Sports Partnership was hosted at Impington Village College with sports leaders from the college assisting with the running of the event; alongside a group of Cambridge United FC scholars from Cambridge Regional College who refereed all of the matches.

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

In the small schools competition, for schools with fewer than 120 pupils in Key Stage 2, it was extremely competitive. In Pool 1 last year’s runners up Harston and Newton beat Haslingfield to qualify ahead of them, by just 1 point through to the final where they met Meldreth Primary School. Both teams went into the final with 4 wins and a draw under their belts so it was always going to be a close and highly competitive affair and the players didn’t disappoint the on looking spectators. Indeed it took the drama of penalties to separate the two teams in the end and it was the team from Meldreth that celebrated victory with a 5-4 win earning them the title of Small Schools Champions!

A record number of 12 teams battled it out in the girls’ competition with the teams from Histon & Impington Juniors and Jeavons Wood Primary finishing top of the two groups. Jeavons Wood made it to the final unbeaten with 4 wins and a draw but they were up against tough opposition with the Histon girls scoring 20 goals in 5 wins in their group. It turned out to be a close match though with both teams putting in good performances. In the end though it was last year’s county champions Histon & Impington Juniors who edged it with a single goal to claim the winners shield and a place in the County final for the third year running.

In the 7-a-side competition for ‘big schools’ fifteen teams competed in 3 pools of 5 with the top placed school in each pool and the highest scoring runner up qualifying for the semi-finals. In the first semi-final Over beat Histon and Impington Juniors 2-1 whilst Willingham beat Linton Heights 1-0 in the other semi-final. This set up a final between the teams from Over and Willingham. With lots of supporters and other schools watching on both teams put on good performances but in the end it was a single goal from Over that earned them the title of South Cambs 7-a-side Champions 2014-15 and the winners shield.

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.

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager, said “The event was a great success, it really does get better every year. We were delighted to have almost 400 children involved today, they 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 students from Cambridge Regional College who really did do a fantastic job in refereeing all of the matches with such authority and confidence.”

Further photos from the event can be viewed on our Facebook page

ESFA Football Full Results 2017