WELLINGTON United Under 13s travelled to Barnstaple in North Devon to take part in their summer festival - and ended a brilliant day by winning the plate competition. The boys came up against some good opposition in the group stages and suffered some really tough luck as things just weren’t going their way despite multiple shots and a great deal of possession; things didn’t look great for the boys as they entered the knockout stages but in their first knockout game they held fast and managed to hold a draw only to go to pens and for the boys to pull off some great penalties and some great saves by the keeper securing them the win.

In the second knockout match the boys once again couldn’t find the back of the net but neither could their opponent and on to penalties they went again. Once again some clinical work in front the goal and some unlucky misses for their opponent meant the boys qualified for the plate final against a team that had played some great football and beaten some tough teams.

The Welly boys were now on a high and played some really good football but couldn’t find the back of the net again and denied their opponent a goal from a free-kick on the edge of box just before the whistle blew.

The Wellington boys only needed to take 2 pens - thanks to a miss from their opponents and an amazing save by the Welly keeper meaning the boys returned from the Barnstaple summer festival plate winners after beating South Milton City.

The Welly coaching team commented on how against all the odds the boys pulled together and stayed strong to play some great tournament football when it really mattered to secure the win.

Steve Newstead