YOUTH FOOTBALL: Lions roar to Puma Cup triumph

Crawley Green Lions U14s finished an extremely successful year by claiming yet another title as they won the prestigious Puma Cup U14 six-a-side competition at the Stevenage Football Akademy.

The tournament was unusually played in a round-robin format this year to provide more games.

In the first Crawley head-to-head, Reds beat Blues 1-0 thanks to Connor Eblett’s great finish.

The top four sides fought it out in the semi-finals as the Blues faced a Broxbourne Borough side that had won every game.

Dan Gould, Kieran Phillips, Callum Black, Aiden Fennelly, Adam Hughes, Ronan Sam, Cameron Veazey and Gulain Lusambya played a compact game and deservedly led the hard-fought tie 2-1 going into the last few seconds of extra-time.

However, they were pegged back with the last kick of the game and knocked out in the subsequent penalty shoot-out.

The Reds team of Reece Whitby, Kai Reilly, Glen Mulkerrins, Kyle Ajayi, Eblett, George Collett, Cass Chapman-Hearn and William O’Leary were handed a walkover win by King George in their semi, before beating Broxbourne on penalties in the final.

Both teams were level after six attempts and, after Chapman-Hearn had coolly slotted home his second penalty of the tie, Whitby saved the deciding kick as Crawley triumphed.