Monday 4 May was a glorious day, not just because of the golden sunshine, but also for the glittering gold trophy won by the Saints U10 Girls team. They emerged victorious from the hallowed Harrogate Town AFC turf to be crowned the inaugural Harrogate Town x Exercise Football Tournament U10 Girls Champions.

The Harrogate Town x Exercise Football Tournament ran like clockwork and was highly professional – just what you’d expect from Town. This community day, supported by the club’s stadium sponsors Exercise, involved teams from the club’s Kick Back Scheme – a partnership between Harrogate Town AFC and 20 local grassroots football teams, including Beckwithshaw Saints.

In the U10 Girls group, Scott and Sarah’s girls faced formidable and familiar opponents, Killinghall Nomads and Pannal Sports, plus an unknown quantity, Kirkby Lions, from Kirkby Malzeard.

Our girls kicked off the group stage at 1pm with a 0-0 draw against Kirkby Lions, who had some excellent players on their team.

Next up were Killinghall Nomads, who we’ve faced on many occasions and always give us a good game. It was a tough game, and another 0-0 draw meant that, whilst we were unbeaten, we really needed to beat Pannal Sports in the last group game to reach the Final. Our girls rose to the challenge.

Martha B put in a fine cross for Holly to connect with, making it 1-0. Holly certainly had her shooting boots on as she then doubled our lead with some great pressing from their keeper’s throw-out. Pannal Sports then pulled one back, and the match finished 2-1. We were through to the Final.

Manager Scott and coach Sarah had done their homework, though. “Having just seen Killinghall put 7 past Kirkby in their last group game, we knew we had to mark their danger players and stick to them like glue. Our girls did just that, working really hard to prevent them from scoring, and after chances at the other end for us, the ref blew for full-time at 0-0,” said Sarah.

Penalties were honours even with Esme, Martha B and Holly hitting the back of the net. With two excellent saves from Esme, it was sudden death. Libbie stepped up and confidently scored before Esme saved yet again to seal the victory.

In a Wembley “royal box-style” ceremony, the girls filed up to the top of the stand to be presented with their medals and lift the cup one after another to huge cheers. What a day.

A huge thank you from BSJFC to Harrogate Town FC and all their incredible staff who were so friendly, welcoming and professional. Also, thanks for the use of some of their photos from the tournament, which can all be viewed here.

Let’s hope there’s another one next year so we get a chance to defend the title of Harrogate Town x Exercise Football Tournament U10 Girls Champions.

Congratulations to Holly, Libbie, Isabella, Georgia, Esme, Martha P, Margot, Vivienne, Martha B, Lilly, and Tess.

BSJFC U10 Girls are sponsored by Plan A Product Development.