Having already won the Northern League this long awaited cup final arrived with rain pouring from the heavens and a long journey down the M5 for the boys. A large crowd was present to see not only a cup final but also the play off for the overall league winners as both Worcester City and Salisbury City had won their respective North and South JPL leagues.

Fortunately the skies cleared in time for the kick off. Worcester started strongly, creating early chances but Salisbury showed their class by defending well and making their own opportunities. The game continued in this vein with both sides playing some exciting football. The first half remained goalless.

Salisbury came out for the 2nd half clearly the more pumped up team, pushing forward from the off. Worcester stood strong as a team despite the pressure, working for each other and unlucky not to make anything of their many moves out from defence to midfield to the strikers. Then the deadlock was broken with a a great move by Worcester. Whilst on the attack, Kane put a sweeping pass across from the left to the right of the pitch into the path of Alfie who continued to bear down on the goal and struck the ball sweetly into the bottom left corner. 1-0 to Worcester! Salisbury continued to press and were awarded a penalty for an unfortunate handball decision. The Salisbury player stepped up and the Worcester fans could barely watch as he drove the ball low towards the goal. The Worcester keeper – Joel – wasn’t fazed, read the player perfectly and pulled off a great save.

Salisbury maintained their pressure with Worcester defending strongly. Attacking down the right seemed to be Salisbury’s main outlet and Worcester rallied together to snuff this out. The game was end to end at times and with less than a minute to go Worcester attacked down the left with Salisbury putting the ball out for a Worcester throw in. From the throw in Salisbury broke down the right all the way into the Worcester box where a player was tackled and a 2nd penalty awarded.

Surely this was a certainty for extra time ; but the Worcester keeper had other ideas! The Salisbury keeper stepped up to take the penalty and shot beautifully right and low. Once again Joel showed nerves of steel and with the concentration of any top goal keeper read the shot perfectly, parrying low to his left and jumping up to catch the goal bound ball. Another penalty saved! Joel kicked the ball out and the final whistle was blown. 1-0 to Worcester.

Whilst this was most definitely a fantastic team effort by Worcester, Joel was the deserved winner of the Cup Final Man of the Match. A great treble for Worcester City, winning the pre-season tournament, the league and the cup. This was a perfect end to a great season for Worcester City U11’s who now look to build on their first year together and can’t wait for the challenges of next season.