The Scarborough and District Minor League Under-13s cup final was a keenly-contested affair at the Flamingo Land Stadium between champions Pickering Town Juniors and Phoenix. Pickering achieved the league and cup double with a 5-2 victory, but it was a hard-earned success against a Phoenix team that showed great determination and team spirit throughout the contest. Phoenix had a very bright start to the game, trying to put pressure on Pickering from the outset. But it didn’t take long for Pickering to show how potent they were on the attack, creating early chances with quick counter-attacks. Both teams needed to be on their best form in defence as chances were coming thick and fast at either end. It took 15 minutes for Pickering to take the lead, capitalising on a poor goal kick by the Phoenix keeper, which was picked up by a forward, who crossed the ball back into the Phoenix area and it was finished neatly at the far post for 1-0. This spurred Phoenix on and they equalised five minutes later when their centre forward charged down the keeper, blocking his attempted clearance and the ball fell to Ollie Bennett, who stroked the ball into the empty net to make it 1-1. Pickering restored their lead within a couple of minutes with an almost identical goal to the Phoenix equaliser moments earlier. The remainder of the first half was pretty even with both teams working hard. Pickering came out for the second half in a confident mood… [Read full story]
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