English Schools' Football Association

Heyhouses CE Primary School

ESFA Tesco U11 7-a-side Schools' Cup for Schools' Teams

Eleven teams from ESFA North Region gathered at Newcastle United FC Academy to contest the Regional Final of the ESFA Tesco U11 Schools' Cup for School Teams.

The participating teams, who had qualified for this stage of the competition as County winners, were:-

• Barrow Hall Primary School, Warrington (Cheshire SFA)
• Brooklands Primary School, Sale (Greater Manchester SFA)
• Heyhouses CE Primary School, Lytham St Anne’s (Lancashire SFA)
• Knavesmire Primary School, York (North Yorkshire SFA)
• Nether Green Junior School, Sheffield (South Yorkshire SFA)
• Old Earth Primary School, Calderdale (West Yorkshire SFA)
• St Bernadette’s RC Primary School (Cleveland SFA)
• St Margaret’s CE Primary School, Durham (Durham CSFA)
• St Jerome’s Primary School, Formby (Merseyside SFA)
• Stanwix Primary School, Carlisle (Cumbria SFA)
• Valley Gardens Middle School, Whitley Bay (Northumberland SFA)

The schools were drawn into two groups (one of six and one of five) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the semi-final. Each school would play four matches.

GROUP A

Valley Gardens and St Bernadette’s RC were the early pace setters in this group, both achieving 1-0 victories in their opening matches.

In their second match Valley Gardens were held to a goalless draw by Stanwix whilst St Bernadette’s RC drew 2-2 with Nether Green. However, St Bernadette’s RC topped the group on goals scored. St Margaret’s CE with victory over Knavesmire moved into third place with Nether Green fourth.

Valley Gardens were held to another goalless draw, this time by Knavesmire. Nether Green recorded their first victory at the expense of Stanwix. St Bernadette’s RC suffered their first defeat at the hands of St Margaret’s CE.

Going into the final set of fixtures four schools had the chance of making the semi-final.

Valley Gardens, who finished as Group A runners-up, earned their place in the semi-final, at the expense of Nether Green, by beating the Sheffield School 2-0.

The remaining Group A place in the semi-final was now between St Bernadette’s RC and St Margaret’s CE. In the crucial last games St Margaret’s CE were to play Stanwix and St Bernadette’s RC were against Knavesmire.

St Bernadette’s RC made a valiant attempt to reach the semi-final by beating Knavesmire 1-0. Meanwhile St Margaret’s CE came from 1-0 down to beat Stawwix 2-1 to finish top of Group A.

Final table

GROUP B

Whereas goals were at a premium in Group A plenty were being scored in Group B.

After two games Barrow Hall, with 6 points, led the group by beating Brooklands 1-0 and Heyhouses 2-1. Old Earth, who were second with 4 points, had been among the goals beating St Jerome’s 3-1 and drawing 3-3 with Brooklands. Heyhouses were in third place with 3 points.

Heyhouses, in their third game, put themselves into a good position for a semi-final place by beating Brooklands 5-0.

Barrow Hall, after being held to a goalless draw by St Jerome’s, made sure of a semi-final place, and top spot in the group, with a 2-1 victory over Old Earth.

For the last Group B match Heyhouses had to play Old Earth. Heyhouses only needed a point to finish as group runners-up and make the semi-final but Old Earth had to win. The Lancashire school secured the point they required as the game ended 1-1.

Final table

Semi-final 1: St Margaret’s CE 0 Heyhouses 5

Semi-final 2: Barrow Hall 0 Valley Gardens 3

Heyhouses and Valley Gardens will represent ESFA North Region in the National Finals, which will be held at The UCL Sports Ground on Saturday 19 May.