English Schools' Football Association

Bassetlaw Schools' FA U11 Squad

Held at University of Nottingham Sports Ground (Highfields) on Saturday 10 March 2012

Bassetlaw Schools’ FA became Midlands champions when the Inter-Association Tesco Cup was staged by the Nottinghamshire County Schools’ FA at Highfields.

Bassetlaw, the Nottinghamshire champions, were undefeated on the day as eight Associations competed for the title. They began the day by defeating Northampton 3-1 in their first group game, then defeated Bromsgrove and District before making it maximum points with a 4-0 win over Gainsborough. The runners-up spot in the group was closely contested and despite losing to the group winners, Northampton qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of a 2-1 success against Gainsborough and a draw with Bromsgrove and District.

On paper, the other League was the stronger of the two and when the final games were played, all except Loughborough who ended the day with 3 defeats could have qualified. In the end, it was Kingston-upon-Hull who missed out as Kings Norton beat Loughborough 1-0 and they themselves could only draw 0-0 with Stoke.

In the semi-finals, a Jay Smith goal brought Bassetlaw a 1-0 win against Stoke while the other game produced a surprise and the previously unbeaten Kings Norton side lost 2-0 to Northampton, thus ensuring that two teams from the same group reached the final. The Northampton side owed their success to goals from Tyler Jones and Justin Hook and some good defensive work.

Bassetlaw and Northampton thus both qualified for the National Finals at Chelsea’s training ground but met for the Midlands title and a tight game was settled rather unfortunately by an own goal from a Northampton defender.

Group A Table

Group A Results

Group B Table

Group B Results

Photos have been provided by RWT Photography. Photos from the event can be purchased via www.rwt-photography.co.uk