Kings Crowned
Kingslea won the year 4 primary schools football cup last night with a 1-0 victory over Heron Way A in a tight and high quality final.
11 teams entered the tournament, the latest in the series on the Tanbridge astroturf. Teams were organise into four first phase groups that fed three tiers of play-offs in the second stage of the night. Yet again a young team of refs – Izzy, Araya, Tom M, Tom S and Zack – did sterling work in refereeing over the four pitches.
Leechpool A put four past Southwater B for comfortable progression in the two team Group A. Group B was the closest fought. Southwater A and Northolmes both beat St Mary’s Pulborough so all came down to the clash between the two. Northolmes cancelled out Southwater’s early lead with an equalizer and the game finished drawn, so all came down to goal difference which favoured Northolmes by just one.
Kingslea and Castlewood also fought out a last match decider in Group C after their first game wins but this one wasn’t quite as much a nervy affair as Kingslea, as the 10-0 result in favour of the Kings illustrated. And in Group D Heron Way A were dominant with confident wins over Slinfold and Leechpool B.
Heron Way B recovered well from their disappointing first phase campaign by winning the second phase lower tier group of three. After the first two matches both finished one apiece the Herons broke ranks to hit four past Leechpool B.
In the middle tier Slinfold punched above their school weight to register wins against Southwater B (2-0) and then Southwater A (2-1) to win fifth place overall.
Heron Way A continued their march with a 2-0 semi-final victory over Leechpool A but things were not quite as straightforward in the other half of the draw with Northolmes and Kingslea sharing nine goals. Kingslea were 5-2 up and looking safe but two more Northolmes strikes had them looking wobbly and relief came with the final whistle not a moment too soon.
Kingslea recovered their composure however to tighten up the defence to provide the bedrock of a super performance in the final against a strong Heron Way A outfit.
RESULTS
TIME | PITCH 1 (ENTRY GATE SIDE) | PITCH 2 | PITCH 3 | PITCH 4 |
| PHASE 1 | |||
| GROUP A Southwater B Leechpool A | GROUP B St Mary’s Pulborough – 2pts Southwater A – 8pts (GD+3) Northolmes – 8pts (GD+2) | GROUP C Kingslea – 10pts Castlewood – 6pts Heron Way B – 2pts | GROUP D Leechpool B – 2pts Slinfold – 6pts Heron Way A – 10pts |
4.08-4.24 | 0 Southwater B v Leechpool A 4 | 0 Pulboro v Southwater A 2 | 0 Heron Way B v Castlewood 1 | 0 Slinfold v Heron Way A 3 |
4.26-4.42 | FRIENDLY 1 Southwater B v Slinfold 1 | 2 Pulboro v Northolmes 5 | 0 Heron Way B v Kingslea 4 | 0 Leechpool B v Heron Way A 5 |
4.44-5.00 | FRIENDLY 2 Leechpool A v Pulboro 0 | 1 Southwater A v Northolmes 1 | 0 Castlewood v Kingslea 10 | 0 Leechpool B v Slinfold 5 |
PHASE 2 | ||||
5.04-5.20 | MATCH 1 Gp A 1st v Gp D 1st 0 Leechpool A v Heron Way A 2 | MATCH 2 Gp B 1st v Gp C 1st 4 Northolmes v Kingslea 5 | MATCH 3 Gp A 2nd v Gp D 2nd 0 Southwater B v Slinfold 2 | Gp B 3rd v Gp C 3rd 1 Pulborough v Heron Way B 1 |
5.22-5.38 | THIRD PLACE Loser M1 v Loser M2 0 Leechpool A v Northolmes 0 | MATCH 4 Gp B 2nd v Gp C 2nd 3 Southwater A v Castlewood 0 | Gp B 3rd v Gp D 3rd 1 Pulborough v Leechpool B 1 | |
5.40-5.56 | FINAL Winner M1 v Winner M2 0 Heron Way A v Kingslea 1 | FIFTH PLACE Winner M3 v Winner M4 2 Slinfold v Southwater A 1 | SEVENTH PLACE Loser M3 v Loser M4 1 Southwater B v Castlewood 0 | Gp C 3rd v Gp D 3rd 4 Heron Way B v Leechpool B 0 |
FINAL PLACINGS | 1. Kingslea 2. Heron Way A 3. = Leechpool A / Northolmes | 4. – 5. Slinfold 6. Southwater A | 7. Southwater B 8. Castlewood 9. Heron Way B | 10. St Mary’s Pulborough 11. Leechpool B |