Following on from the success of the inaugural Worcestershire Girls Tesco Cup Finals last season, WFA will again be running Girls Tesco Cup Competitions in the Under 14 and Under 16 age categories in Season 2008/09. The winners of these competitions will again represent Worcestershire in the Regional finals, with the winners of the Regional competition qualifying for the National finals.
In order to avoid causing disruption to league fixtures these cup fixtures will be played on Sundays on the all weather Astro turf pitch at Pershore High School.
The dates for the U14 / U16 Tesco Cup for girls are:
Sunday 25th January - U14 Semi-Finals
11.30am - Peopleton Juniors 0 v Evesham United 7
12.30pm - Headless Cross 5 v Newtown Sports 0
Sunday 1st March - U14/U16 Finals
11.45am - U16 Final - Ferndale Girls 2 v Warndon Villages 4
1.00pm - U14 Final - Evesham United 3 v Headless Cross 2
Winners of the WFA Girls Tesco Cup will represent Worcestershire FA in the Regional Finals which take place in Birmingham on Sunday 26th April 2009.
Semi-Finals Report
Peopleton Juniors v Evesham United
Sunday 25th January saw the Worcestershire FA Girls Under 14 Tesco Cup Semi-Finals take place at Pershore High School. The first semi-final of the day saw Peopleton Juniors take on Evesham United in a local derby.
Peopleton Juniors started the game with Keeley Hewlett as stand-in goalkeeper whilst awaiting the arrival of regular goalkeeper Rebekah Simms and Evesham United were quick to put Hewlett to the test with a number of attempts on goal. Dani Monks finally made the breakthrough after five minutes with a well-taken strike. Peopleton came close to equalising within a few minutes after a fine run from Natasha Bryant but the shot was put just wide. Stand-in goalkeeper Keeley Hewlett made two fine saves in the minutes that followed but was unable to prevent Zoe Mabbot slotting home a one on one effort and Dani Monks getting her second of the game shortly after.
Five minutes to go in the first half saw the arrival of Peopleton’s regular goalkeeper Rebekah Simms who was straight into action with a fine save onto the post from a Zoe Mabbot strike. Minutes later Simms made another great save, but with the ball falling loose in the area Evesham thought they had further extended their lead when it was stuck into the net, only to be disallowed for offside. Peopleton ended the first half the brighter of the two teams with Natasha Bryant again going close but unable to find the target with her effort.
Evesham United were quick out of the blocks after the break with Millie Meadows putting them four up shortly after the re-start. This led to a barrage of attempts on the Peopleton goal with a combination of woodwork and a number of fine saves from goalkeeper Simms preventing Evesham from further extending their lead. A handball offence just outside the box gave Peopleton a fantastic opportunity to pull a goal back but Natasha Bryant’s free-kick was gathered comfortably by the Evesham goalkeeper.
Evesham kept pushing forward looking for more goals and a fine ball through by Hannah Watts saw Sophie Griffiths get their fifth, with Kirsty McBride (OG) and Kelly Fowkes also scoring to see Evesham comfortably through to the final on March 1st.
Headless Cross v Newtown Sports
The second semi-final of the day pitched Headless Cross of the Central Warwickshire League against Newtown Sports of the Mercian League. The game started at a frantic pace with end to end play seeing chances fall at both ends. However, the deadlock was broken on five minutes when Charlotte O’Brien went through one on one and coolly slotted the ball through the advancing goalkeeper’s legs. The two teams were very evenly matched for much of the first half but Headless Cross proved more clinical with their finishing going two nil up on twelve minutes with O’Brien’s second of the game. Georgina Davies and Elle McBain both went close for Newtown but were unable to convert their chances.
The second half saw Newtown come out brightly with Davies firing just wide. However, Headless Cross soon capitalised on Newtown’s missed opportunities with a well-taken goal by Haley Jones after a defence splitting pass from O’Brien. Jones and O’Brien then combined well to give O’Brien her hatrick and with Newtown pushing forward searching for goals, Jones made it five with a couple of minutes to go.