U18 National Cup Finals

Having won the National U18 Cup for the last 3 consecutive years, we (Belper) were favourites going into the finals weekend at Cannock.
However, we knew we faced tough opposition in the forms of Wycombe HC, Firebrands and Bradford-Wakefield HC who all boasted regional and junior international players.
The tournament took a round robin format, with us playing our first game on the Saturday then our final 2 on the Sunday. Our first game was against Wycombe HC who played very defensively throughout the match, making it very difficult to convert the persistent pressure we had. Eventually, after a slow start we came out 5-0 winners. We were obviously pleased with our victory but knew that we had to raise our game to match the stronger opposition we would face the following day.
Our first game on the Sunday was against Firebrands. Again, whilst we had a lot of pressure and most of the possession in the first half, we struggled to convert our chances, with their goalkeeper making many outstanding saves. By half time, the score was only 1-0 in our favour.
We started the second half strongly and were awarded a penalty stoke within 2 minutes of the restart, after one of our players was fouled in the circle. I stepped forward to convert it bringing the score to 2-0 and a minute later we had scored again. Towards the end of the match we were given a second penalty stoke after it was judged the Firebrands goalkeeper had taken down our player without taking the ball whilst making a save. Again, I took the penalty and scored meaning the final score was 4-0.
The final game of the tournament was crucial. Almost in a repeat of last year we were to play Bradford-Wakefield and a win or a draw would mean we retained our title whilst a loss would have meant Bradford-Wakefield won.
Again we put lots of pressure on Wakefield from the start but this time it paid off more quickly – in the 7th minute a rebound off the goalkeeper came to me and I slotted it in the back of the net. After that our confidence rose and we played brilliantly. The goals kept on coming and the game finished at 6-0.
As the final whistle blew we were ecstatic with our win, however it was also emotional as 3 of our team had just played our last ever match for Belper before moving onto university.
Overall the weekend was a great experience and good luck to next year’s team – hopefully they can retain the title for a fifth year running!