Recently the Northampton Town Community Trust hosted the EFL Kids Cup at Goals in Northampton. Schools from all over Northamptonshire were invited to take part in the annual tournament with the opportunity of a trip to Wembley on offer for the winner.
The tournament format comprised of a group stage followed by knock out rounds before a final at the end of the day. The successful day saw 16 teams with over 140 children from 12 schools across Northamptonshire take part.
Northampton Town's Schools and Workforce Development Manager, Lucan Burge said, “The EFL Kids Cup is a brilliant tournament that can give children the dream of playing at Wembley. Through sport it also enables children to develop skills such as teamwork, communication and resilience in a competitive yet fun environment.”
After an exciting and competitive group stage with plenty of goals, eight schools who made it through to the quarter-finals before Abington Vale, Boothville, Stimpson Avenue and St James’ Schools then progressed on to the semi-finals.
The two semi-final games were very entertaining as all four schools vied for their place in the final and a chance to represent Northampton Town Football Club in the next round. Boothville managed to get to the final with a 3-1 over Abington Vale with St James CE also joining them as they won 6-3 against Stimpson Avenue.
In a very close final, St James CE clinched a 3-2 win over Boothville with a last gasp winner to progress to the Regional Finals of the EFL Kids Cup which will be held at Swindon Town in the week commencing 11th March.
A big well done to all schools who took part in the tournament and good luck to St James CE who will be the Northampton Town representative in the next round!
If you would like to find out further details around the programmes NTFC Community Trust delivers within schools, or indeed wish to get your school involved, please contact lucan.burge@ntfc.co.uk