Tournament Report

Severn Vale School were representing Cheltenham Town FC at the Area Finals (South West) of the National Npower U13 Girls Cup on Friday 17^th Jan at Exeter University. Having dominated the local tournament hosted by the Cheltenham Town Football in the Community Programme, the girls went into this tournament with a positive and confident attitude.

All seven girls are fully committed to their football and play at a good standard with their local clubs (six play for Quedgeley Wanderers and one plays for Forrest Green). Four of the team have represented the County in previous years, two players (Holly Kay and Jess Thomas) both train with the Bristol Academy skills centre and Holly also trains with the County Player Development Centre.

Manager, Jacqueline Haines and coach, Sam Hill, both had high expectations of the team and knew they were capable of pulling out some amazing performances. As well as being there to enjoy the football it was clear the girls, manager and coach were all there to win it!

The standard of the tournament was incredibly high and it was clear the team would have to work for it. Despite having a slow start against Exeter City (wining just 1-0) they managed to win their first 4 consecutive matches, scoring 10 and conceding only 1. During the 5^th match against Bristol Rovers their confidence began to waver and they stopped working as a team, resulting in their first loss of the day. With 2 games left to play they knew they had to pick up the momentum and lift their heads up. After going down 1-0 to Newport in the penultimate game, they came back to win 3-1, showing amazing resilience, perseverance and the ability to perform under pressure. The final match against Yeovil meant everything. Yeovil had played equally well, if not better, throughout the day. Severn Vale (Cheltenham Town) went into this final match with 15 points and Yeovil with 16 points. A draw would not be enough. The team carried their positive performance through to the final match wining 2-0 and topping the tournament with 18 points, scoring a total of 15 goals and conceding just 3. After some deliberation the manager and coach nominated Summer Rankin as player of the tournament with her solid performance in defence throughout the day.

The team are now one of the top 8 in the country. The next stage of the competition sees these 8 teams split into a North and South tournament with 4 teams in each. With extra coaching sessions being planned the girls are working hard towards winning this next stage. If they are successful they would go on to play the winners of the North at Wembley Stadium on March 30^th before the Johnstone’s Paint trophy final is played.

Tournament Results: