Upton Junior School girl footballers will fly the flag for Kent in the South East England seven a side tournament.
The Year 5/6 team battled their way through to take the county champions title in a tough tournament at the Sporting Thamesmead Centre.
Upton overcame Barnehurst and Herne Bay to progress to the winners group and compete to be county champions.
The girls played both teams twice in a round robin group stage and, despite some early pressure from the Upton girls, the first game ended in a 0-0 draw after some good defending from Herne Bay.
This spurred the girls on with some great team goals, strong defending and inspired goalkeeping ensuring they won their next three games all 1-0.
Upton were through to the winners’ group and faced White Cliffs School and Madginford to battle it out to take the title.
Battle with White Cliffs
White Cliffs were up first and the Upton girls meant business. Strong attacking play and lots of pressure resulted in a corner.
Charlotte Scales stepped up and drilled the ball low and hard into the penalty area and a deflection off a defender saw the ball hit the back of the net and Upton led 1-0.
Upton kept applying the pressure and walked away winners in their first match.
Last game
Madginford were Upton’s last opponents. The game started evenly with both teams attacking and defending well.
Upton’s pressure was rewarded with another corner and again Charlotte Scales stepped up. Amelia Dunbar got on the end of the cross and put the ball in the goal to give Upton a 1-0 lead.
The game carried on with both teams creating chances but it was determined Upton who broke through again and took a 2 – 0 lead with a stunning goal from Michaela Beach.
The final whistle blew and the girls celebrated being county champs. Next stop is the South East finals in March.
‘Proud’
Deputy Head of School Dave Walker said: “What a magnificent effort – we are so proud to fly the flag for Kent in the finals.
“A huge well done goes to all the girls involved and a massive thank you to all the parents who came to support. An extra special thank you to Mr Coot who gave up his time to lay on extra training sessions for the team to ensure they were as ready as they could be for the tournament.”