Chetwynd Junior School, representing Coventry City, lose Wembley final...
Chetwynd Junior School missed out on the title of national Community Cup champions after suffering a heartbreaking loss on penalties against Corpus Christie School (Brentford) at Wembley prior to Sunday’s League One Play-off Final.
The school, representing Coventry City, won the local and regional Npower Community Cup which is an annual national schools competition organised by the Football League.
This year, over 30 teams took part in the boys competition organised by Sky Blues in the Community, with 18 teams competing in the girls tournament.
Chetwynd got all the way to the final which was staged at Wembley Stadium before Brentford and Yeovil battled it out in the League One play-off final.
The first half of the game was a tight affair, with goalkeeper Jake Bull making one outstanding save to keep the score at 0-0 going into the turnaround.
The second half saw Ethan Meadows breaking clear of the Brentford defence after two minutes to cleverly finish into the bottom corner with the outside of his boot, putting the Sky Blues 1-0 up. The team battled hard and looked like they would hold on for a victory, but two minutes to go saw a flowing Brentford move leading to an equaliser, sending the game into penalties.
Unfortunately the Coventry’s first two penalty-takers miss the target, with Brentford finishing both of theirs to run out 2-0 winners on penalties.
The Chetwynd Juniors squad was; Tom Stokes, Jonathan Jesson, Jack Edwards, Jake Bull, Luke Thompson, Ethan Meadows, George Tracey and Griegan French.
Sky Blues in the Community Sports Manager Shaun Pierce said “The whole weekend was an amazing experience all round. The Football League really looked after all the players, teachers and coaches and it was all extremely well organised.
“Obviously the boys were disappointed to have lost on penalties, but to get to Wembley to start with was a great achievement in itself. I think once they have had time to reflect, they will appreciate the opportunity they had to play on the pitch at Wembley and really get an idea of how things work behind the scenes at the top level.”
Sky Blues in the Community will be running the boys and girls tournaments again in September and if your school would like to find out about how to enter, you can contact Shaun Pierce on 024 7678 6349.