Greatwood goal machine triumph in girls football competition
Winning team - Greatwood A
Lancaster City Council held their annual year 5 and 6 girls 6-a-side football competition on Thursday, 29 April 2010 at Salt Ayre Sports Centre.
Over 200 competitors and spectators descended on Salt Ayre’s pitch and the atmosphere was filled with excitement.
With 19 teams entering from 17 local primary schools the competition was split into four groups. The top two teams from each group progressed through to the quarter finals.
The early stages of the group competition saw some superb footballing skills and as the temperature off the pitch soared so did the football on the pitch.
As the group stages progressed there were a number of strong teams that could go on to win the competition. Dallas Road, Slyne A and Cockerham all qualified for the quarter finals with Greatwood A being the only team to progress through by winning all their group games and not conceding a single goal!
The quarter final line up was as follows: Greatwood A v Moorside, Slyne A v St. Bernadette's, Cockerham v Torrisholme and Dallas Road v Morecambe Bay. The quarter finals went to form with all the top teams progressing through to what would prove a very close competitive semi final.
The semi final line up pitched the four strongest teams in the competition against each other, with Greatwood A v Slyne A and Dallas Road v Cockerham. It was obvious that these were going to be very hard fought even contests from the start.
Neither semi final was disappointing and as the volume of the spectators got louder, the football on the pitch got better.
In the first semi final a strong Cockerham team played an inspired Dallas Road team that seemed to be getting better the further they progressed. The two teams played a very good game but the Dallas Road team proved too strong scoring one goal in the later stages to book their place in this year's final.
In the second semi final Greatwood A, who had still not conceded a goal, went 1 - 0 down, but proved too strong for a tired looking Slyne A team. Greatwood A strolled through to the final 3 – 1.
In the final the two best footballing teams, Greatwood A and Dallas Road, competed in what was to prove a very dramatic affair. The final was a very closely fought contest. Both sides had chances early on, but it was a Greatwood A penalty that was the deciding factor as they went on to win the game 1 - 0.
Dallas Road never dropped their heads and thanks to some encouragement from their teachers and spectators continued to attack trying desperately to get the goal to take the game into extra time. Greatwood A's defence proved too strong and when the final whistle blew both sets of players couldn’t contain their emotions with tears of joy for the winners and tears of disappointment for the runners up.
Greatwood A could finally put the disappointment of losing in last year's final to rest with them received the cup to keep for one year.
All the players from the winners, Greatwood A and runners up, Dallas Road received a medal and trophy.
All the competitors received a medal for their afternoon’s efforts and played the competition in the spirit in which it was intended, with the main aims being fair play, fun, enjoyment and participation.
Date Published: 18/05/10