Essex County Schools FA Under-11s Girls’ 7-a-side Cup

On Tuesday 16th November, the Girls’ football team traveled to Melbourne Park in Chelmsford to compete in the Essex County Schools FA Under-11s Girls’ 7-a-side Cup. The competition brought together the 18 best teams from all over Essex so the standard of competition was going to be high.

The afternoon started with the group stages with 3 games to play: each game being 15 minutes one way. The first match was against Nightingale. The team worked hard throughout the match but were unable to get around the defenders. Nightingale managed to find space on a number of occasions putting our defense to the test. When the final whistle was blown the game finished, West Leigh 0-3 Nightingale.

The second game was against Maylandsea. Maylandsea managed to get two early goals. This was an incredibly strong team, once again our defense worked incredibly hard, helping the team to counter attack and pop the ball in the back of the net. They continued to work hard to try and get another goal. With the final whistle blown the game finished, West Leigh 1-4 Maylandsea.

The final game was against Stanway. The girls went on to the pitch determined to walk away with a win, full of enthusiasm and energy, the team demonstrated their strong attacking football scoring on a number of occasions and making strong defensive tackles throughout the match. With the final whistle blown the game finished West Leigh 4-1 Stanway.

The girls did an incredible job of making it to the Essex Finals and being ranked in the top 18 schools in Essex. Throughout the tournament, the girls showed great determination, encouragement, respect and sportsmanship in every match. They should feel very confident when approaching the upcoming league matches.