ESFA PlayStation Under 12 Small Schools’ Cup Final: Match Report
Friday 28 July 2017By ESFA Office
Last Updated:
10/02/2021 11:50:09
St Bede’s College (Manchester SFA) 3-4 Greneway School (North Hertfordshire SFA)
Greneway School have been confirmed as National Champions in the U12 Small Schools’ Cup after beating St Bede’s College 4-3 at St George’s Park in a brilliant, nail biting Final on the Indoor 3G pitch. The game stared strongly with Greneway with a few early chances but it was St Bede’s College who struck first. The ball was laid back to Geoffroy Bony who looped the ball over the keeper to put his side in the lead. It didn’t take Greneway long to get back into the game as Adam McCormack got his side back on level terms after beating the defence to put into the net. Greneway had a hold on the game and just before half time they scored again, this time through an Archie Massman-Brown free kick. In the second half it was Greneway who struck first after a goal from a corner. The ball looked to have been saved brilliantly, but the ball had already crossed the line despite the protests. St Bede’s weren’t out of the match and they managed to score a carbon-copy of their first half goal, this time courtesy of Markel Mancisidor who was laid off to place into the centre of the net. St Bede’s were coming back into the game until Thanushan Sathees scored a goal for Greneway, the ball was not cleared from an earlier cross and he latched onto the rebound to return his team to a two goal lead. St Bede’s fought until the end of the game and were rewarded with another goal, a second goal from Geoffroy Bony who took this one into the box on his own and struck hard and low but this did not turn out to be enough as soon after the referee ended the game after a brilliant seven goal feast!
Match Background
This competition was a late starter, beginning in January to run alongside the U12 Girls Competition. This saw St Bede’s fight through six rounds of competition to make it to St George’s Park, with interesting trips around Manchester and the North West scoring 27 goals in their games. Greneway had a similar run in the competition taking on teams in the South East of England and scoring 26 goals which is just one short of St Bede’s record!
Match Details
The first half kicked off at the indoor 3G pitch at St George’s Park and saw Greneway get straight out of the blocks with a few early chances from Adam McCormack, but came to no avail. The first goal came courtesy of Geoffroy Bony of St Bede’s College. The ball was laid back to him from the by-line and managed to loop the ball up and over the rushing goal keeper from just outside of the box to put his side one to the good. Greneway reacted brilliantly with only a few minutes later a goal mouth scramble saw two strikes hit but only to be cleared by a resilient St Bede’s defence. All the pressure from Greneway paid off as they managed to get back on level terms through Adam McCormack. The ball was taken down the right wing and Adam managed to lift the ball up and over the rushing keeper after beating the defenders for pace. At the mid-way point of the first half saw Adam once again being put through on goal but only to be denied by the goal keeper this time to keep the scores level. The last few minutes of the first half saw Greneway take the lead through Archie Massmann-Brown. A free kick was awarded on the edge of the box with Archie stepping up and looping the ball up to lob the keeper once again to put Greneway in the lead just before half time.
Half Time: St Bede’s College 1-2 Greneway School
St Bede’s came back out for the second half with the work to do and was clear they had a plan as their captain, Markel Mancisidor, forced the Greneway keeper to make an early save. A few minutes later saw the pressure rising again on Greneway with a free kick just outside the area needing to be saved too. Greneway got themselves another goal after a free kick was defended out for a corner, the ball was crossed in and captain, Tom Finch, headed from outside the area. The keeper looked to have saved the ball with a brilliant save which looked to replicate David Seaman’s famous save for Arsenal but after confirming with the assistant referee the ball had crossed the line. St Bede’s were not out of the game as Markel Mancisidor was laid off to score a brilliant goal to pull his team to only a one goal deficit. A flurry of goals came in the last few minutes of the match, Greneway scored through Thanushan Sathees and another from Geoffroy Bony of St Bede’s, put the last few minutes of the game into a nail-biting encounter for all of the spectators present.
Greneway School staff and players were ecstatic at the final whistle as they had managed to keep St Bede’s College attacking threat at bay to be crowned National Champions at the National Football Centre in Burton on Trent. Darren Alcock, National Competitions Manager, was present to present the mementoes and pass over the trophy to Greneway’s captain, Tom Finch, to crown them Champions for season 2016-17.
Full Time: St Bede’s College 3-4 Greneway School
Squads:
St Bede’s College: Henry Robinson, Blaine Bogart, Sonny Wright, Fidele Kongolo, Ciaran Owen, Mason Turner, Geoffroy Bony, Markel Mancisidor, Luke Dando, Ross Murray-Hession, George Carter, Kareen Majzoub, Uwak Charles, Joel Senoo.
Greneway School: Alex Moss, Will Blair, Ross Gardner, Sam Lynn, Adam McCormack, Emre Kocak, Rory Rees, Ton Finch, Archie Massmann-Brown, Thanushan Sathees, Billy Turkington, Roscoe Tebbs.
Match Officials:
Referee: Roy Burton
Assistant Referees: Callum Aris & Bill Quirk
Fourth Official: Mark Warren
The ESFA would like to place on record it’s thanks to PlayStation for the generous sponsorship of this competition, also to 353 Photography for taking the photos of the Final and finally to St George’s Park for allowing us to host on this prestigious venue.
