Young guns win national title

Style Soccer clinched the under-10 boys’ title at the FA National Youth Futsal Festival in Birmingham.

Head coach George Avann said: “I am extremely proud of the boys. They showed phenomenal character and belief all day, and I cannot congratulate them enough.

“It is an incredible achievement and a great example of what is achievable when everyone is focused and plays as a team. I would also like to thank the parents for their tremendous support and commitment.”

The Style squad knew it would be an exceptionally hard task against teams from around the country, but they were more than up for the challenge.

The eight finalists were split into two groups of four and Style Soccer won group B with three wins out of three. They saw off Carlisle Futsal Club 10-0, Solihull Whites 3-1 and Broomfield 4-3.

These results set the standard, and gave the boys a huge amount of belief and confidence going into their semi-final against Blidworth FC.

An exceptional game of futsal unfolded with neither team deserving to lose. Style were 2-0 down against very strong opposition, but recovered to head into the final minute 5-4 up, only to concede with 30 seconds left. This resulted in a penalty shoot-out that the Style boys held their nerve to win 7-6.

In the final, Style were again up against Solihull Whites. Although they fell behind in the first minute, Style came surging back to lead 3-1 at half time and were 5-1 up with two minutes to go.

The game ended 5-3 and the dream was complete for seven young boys who have only been playing futsal properly for nine months. In fact, this time last year the Style players didn’t even know what futsal was!

The club, which is based at Battle Sports Centre and trains regularly at Bede’s Senior School near Hailsham, won the county qualifying round in Crawley back in April.

Style then picked up maximum points against some very established futsal teams at the regional finals in Guildford last month to qualify for the national finals.

The squad contained players from around East Sussex, namely Alfie Lambden, Hastings-based Alfie Still, Daniel Longhurst, James Long, Battle-based Olly Thornton, Rye-based Owen Dunk and Ronnie Austin. Andrew Brown was assistant coach.

For further details on Style Soccer, visit the Style Soccer Facebook page or www.stylesoccer.com

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