Girls Win ESFA National Plate!

Saturday 9th June 2018 @ Liverpool FC Training Ground

ESFA National Final

Team: Madison, Millie, Sami, Javeigh, Lacy, Liberty, Savannah, Rihanna, Keeley, Tiana, Kayla, Amne, Octavia and Latia

Goals: Liberty and Latia x 2

Group Stage:

Erdington and Saltley 0-2 Sunderland

Erdington and Saltley 1-2 Poole and East Dorset

Erdington and Saltley 0-3 Haringey

Plate Competition

Semi-final: Erdington and Saltley 1 – 0 Bolsover

Final: Erdington and Saltley 1-0 Poole and East Dorset

A day of fluctuating emotions. A day of incredible lows and great highs. A day of history. Another day of history.

All year this set of incredibly talented young ladies have mad history. They have won titles at a Birmingham level and also at a West Midlands level and on the Midlands stage. They have excelled at everything they’ve done and risen to every occasion.

This all seemed to be in jeopardy during the opening group stage of the national finals. The girls, who were the first BPSFA girls’ side to reach the national finals, seemed to have forgotten everything that they had been doing all season.

Three defeats from their opening three games sounds worse than it was, as the girls were in all three games until late on and only lost due to uncharacteristic errors. However the margins at this level are fine and they found themselves out of the reckoning for the cup at the half-way stage of the competition.

Even though emotions were running high, the girls composed themselves and picked themselves up in time for a tilt at the plate competition.

Grit, hard-work and determination characterised their semi-final against Bolsover, who are from near Chesterfield. Everything that was missing in the opening games was suddenly back in abundance. Then up stepped La’tia with a moment of magic and a stunning goal to take the girls into the final!

Next up were Poole and East Dorset, who defeated us during the opening round in dramatic fashion. Having taken the lead, we conceded two goals in the closing minutes of the game to lose 2-1. Yet this time round, the girls were a completely different animal!

An amazing one-two between Liberty and Tiana resulted in the former tucking a deft shot away early in the game. Some resolute defending and a huge amount of team spirit saw the girls over the line and ensured they departed the north west with the national plate trophy!

Wow! Simply amazing! What a team!

Furthermore, as the girls did the business on the pitch, a special mention to our army of fans who lifted the roof and took over Liverpool for the day! What support!