English Schools' Football Association

Malet Lambert School - Boys' Area D Champions

Sixteen schools from Area D of the English Schools’ FA which covers the counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Humberside, Northamptonshire and Derbyshire took part in an enjoyable Finals Day in Derby. Each school was the champion of their Local District Association and were competing for a place in the National Finals.

The boys were divided into 4 groups of four with each team playing each of those in their League group twice. Malet Lambert School from the Kingston-upon-Hull were the winners of the boys’ section, and therefore, will be amongst the 8 teams from all over the country who will compete for ESFA Munich Trophies 5-a-side Cup at the Powerleague in Derby Monday 05 March 2012.

In League A Malet Lambert scored 16 goals in four of their games but could not beat runners-up, Northampton School for Boys, losing their first match 0-3 and drawing 0-0 in the second. On form therefore, Northampton ought to have won the group but they struggled against Christ the King, losing 0-1 and drawing 0-0. The Hull school therefore topped their group with 13 points to Northampton’s 11.

The League B winners were Martin High School (Anstey, North Leicestershire) who also finished with 13 points, with West Park (Derby) finishing as runners-up on 7 points and just pipping Healing (Grimsby and Cleethorpes) who also had 7 points by one goal.

League C was the most closely fought with three teams contesting first place. Nottingham University Samworth Academy (NUSA) lost their first two games at the tournament but recovered well although they still needed to win their last match against William Farr School (Lincoln and Gainsborough) as only the winners of each group went through to the semi-finals. This they did 3-1 to take them on to 12 points and just pip Gartree (South Leicestershire) and Beverley (East Riding) who ended with 11 with an identical goal difference. Gartree took second place on goals scored.

The fourth league group saw South Axholme (Scunthrope) become the third team to finish their group with 13 points which gave them a five point lead over Tuxford (Worksop and Retford).

The semi-finals were full of drama. Malet Lambert had one of their toughest games of the day against South Axholme with the lead twice changing hands before the game ended 2-2. They then went straight to penalties and into sudden death before Malet went through to the final 6-5. The story was similar in the other semi-final with both goalkeepers making some stunning saves to keep the score at 1-1 at the end of normal time. NUSA and Martin High School were so evenly matches that once again a sudden death penalty saw Samworth score and the Martin kicker shooting wide.

The final was something of an anti-climax with Malet Lambert effectively winning by half time when they led 4-0 and finally taking the East Midlands title against a brave NUSA 6-0.

League Tables

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D