Melbourn Village College sealed an unlikely victory to be crowned Year 10 Cambridgeshire Schools football champions.
The Moor-based secondary school had entered the county cup as one of the smaller schools in the competition but they defied the odds to come from behind and beat Longsands Academy of St Neots 2-1 in the final, held at Trumpington Road, home of Histon FC.
Longsands had taken the lead from a cross whipped in from the right, the resulting flicked header going over goalkeeper George W.
But Melbourn bounced straight back thanks to some neat interplay from George M and Thomas F which saw the latter drive the ball at goal from an angle and nutmeg the goalkeeper to level the scores.
Thomas had to be substituted after a collision with the Longsands keeper and it was his replacement, Tye, who scored the cup-winning goal, a looping shot from more than 20 yards midway through the second half.
Melbourn defended strongly as Longsands threw everything at trying to get an equaliser and special mentions go to Harry, named player of the match, and Callum, who came through injury and scored crucial goals in earlier rounds.
Melbourn had reached the final with a 3-0 win over St Peter’s, from Huntingdon, in the first round, a 5-2 success against Stephen Perse in round two then victory over Impington, winning that one 4-2.
Kelly Coghlan, Melbourn’s head of PE, is in no doubt just how big an accolade this is from the school.
She said: “The boys have worked very well with Mr Barlow and Mr Mills but also led some of their own sessions and this self-led learning is a sign of how much they have gelled as a team, culminating in the County Cup.
"It’s probably our best ever extra-curricular achievement as a school."
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