Team Leicestershire: Pokemon Football County Finals

Over the past few weeks, we have had multiple Team Leicestershire (Pokemon) Primary School County Finals events at Judemeadow Community College. Thank you and congratulations to everyone that has taken part, it's been fantastic to see so many young people representing their school and enjoying playing football.

The results across all the events were:

U11 Small School Girls (Leicestershire & Rutland event only)

A new edition to this year's competition calendar saw teams entered from Gilmorton, Hallbrook, Congerstone, Moira, Whissendine, Gadddesby and St. Winefrides.

All schools played each other in a round robin set up of fixtures, given all the participants plenty of opportunity to play. The standard was really high throughout, and the positive atmosphere created by teachers, participants and spectators really helped everyone to confidently showcase their skills! Most of the games were decided by a single goal and the final league table was extremely close! Congratulations to MOIRA who were the eventual winners. Hopefully this competition will continue to grow in popularity.

U11 Girls

With a larger number of schools, this competition was split into two groups, with the top two teams from each group progressing to a semi-final. Once again, the standard of football was fantastic and seems to get better and better each year as the popularity of girls football continues to flourish. All teams were very evenly matched, and there wasn't much to separate the teams in the final league tables. The two semi-final matches were no different, with Barwell just edging past Hope Hamilton in a very close game, whilst it took a penalty shoot-out to separate Pastures and Langham. Well done to all the girls who were brave enough to step up and take a penalty kick!

The final was another great watch with both teams having several chances to score, both defences and goalkeepers were on top form. In the end, Pastures triumphed to reclaim the trophy that they'd won last year!

Group 1 (in no particular order): Hope Hamilton, Merton, Willesley, Sherrier, Langham, Meadowdale.

Group 2 (in no particular order): Bottesford, Pastures, St. Pauls, Barwell, Desford, Waterleys.

SEMI FINALS

Lanham 1-1 Pastures (Pastures won 3-1 on pens)

Barwell 2-0 Hope Hamilton

FINAL

Pastures 2-0 Barwell

Congratulations to Pastures who progress to the Midlands regional final in the Spring.

U11 Small Schools Mixed

In the small schools mixed finals, ten teams were places into two groups of five. Once again, the matches were all extremely close and often decided by a single goal either way. It was great to see a real mixture of both boys and girls playing in this competition, with all players competing hard but fairly! All teams should be really proud of their efforts, and it was noticeable that all schools were trying to pass the ball around and work together as a team. The finals standings in each group were decided by the last round of matches, which just goes to show how closely matched most of the sides were. Again, we were treated to two very entertaining Semi-Finals, in which both teams had chances to win their respective games. Croft Primary eventually edged past St Josephs in their Semi-Final match 2-0, but were indebted to their goalkeeper and defence for some outstanding saves and last ditch tackles! The second Semi-Final was even closer, Elizabeth Woodville needing penalties to finally see off North Luffenham after a 1-1 draw.

The final was probably the tightest game of the whole afternoon, those watching on had no idea which way the result would go! It looked to be heading to extra time and maybe even another penalty shootout, before Croft scored a later winner with a great first time finish from pinpoint cross! Congratulations to Croft Primary who will go on to the regional stage of the competition, as well as all of the other schools for taking part.

Group 1 (in no particular order): Gaddesby, Ullesthorpe, Fairfield, St. Joseph's, North Luffenham.

Group 2 (in no particular order): Beacon, Grove, Croft, Elizabeth Woodville, Ellistown.

SEMI FINALS

Elizabeth Woodville 1-1 North Luffenham (Elizabeth Woodville win 3-2 on pens)

St Josephs 0-2 Croft

FINAL

Croft 1-0 Elizabeth Woodville

U11 Mixed

The final competition was the mixed finals at the end of November, on a very chilly Saturday morning! Despite the temperatures, there were plenty of spectators watching on as teams once again showcased their talents. Another 10 team split across two groups, giving every team in attendance at least four matches a piece. There were some strong teams involved, many of which have reached this stage of the county competition before, but it was great to see some new schools and participants as well. There was great sportsmanship and teamwork throughout the morning, with everybody trying their best and enjoying their football. Following more extremely close group stages, both of which came down to either a single point or goal difference, Meadowdale progressed to face Sketchley Hill, whilst Badgerbrook took on Whitwick.

The organisers weren't in the least bit surprised that both Semi-Final matches were of a really high standard, with one match going all the way to penalties. In that game it was Badgerbrook who just edged past Whitwick on penalties, both goalkeepers making some fantastic saves during the shootout. In the other Semi-Final Sketchley Hill showed tremendous resilience to come from a goal down to eventually beat Meadowdale 3-1, thanks to some fantastic finishing. In the final, a single goal on the counter attack from Sketchley Hill was enough to win the game, with the captain showing some silky footwork to beat two players before finding the bottom corner.

Group 1 (in no particular order): St John Fisher, Redlands, Orchard, Meadowdale, Leighfield, Whitwick

Group 2 (in no particular order): Bottesford, Badgerbrook, Sharnford, Ratby, Sketchley Hill, Waterleys.

SEMI FINALS

Sketchley Hill 3-1 Meadowdale

Whitwich 0-0 Badgerbrook (Badgerbrook win 3-1 on pens)

FINAL

Sketchley Hill 1-0 Badgerbrook

Many thanks also go to Steve and Alan from the Leicestershire Schools Football Association and Judgemeadow Community College for hosting us at all these events, as well as all the staff and the referees. Good luck to all the schools which progressed to the regional rounds.

We hope everyone enjoyed the tournament and hopefully we will see you again soon at a future Team Leicestershire County Final event.

The full photo albums from the events can be found on our Facebook page:
Mixed Football Finals
Girls Football Finals