Good luck to Minterne Community Junior School in the Kids Cup Final at Wembley
This weekend the team from Minterne Community Junior School step on to the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium to represent Gillingham FC in the npower Football League Kids Cup Final. Their opponents will be St. Luke’s C.E. Primary School, who are representing Morecambe FC.The team will be treated to an access all areas tour of the stadium before embarking on the opportunity of a lifetime when they play before the kick-off of the Npower League Two Play-off final between Bradford City and Northampton Town.
Minterne have progressed from the local stages of the competition, which the Community Trust held back in February at the UK Paper Sports Ground. They put in an outstanding performance, winning all their games and beating St Thomas RC Primary School in the final, in a sudden death penalty shoot-out.
March 14 saw Minterne travel to AFC Wimbledon to represent Gills in the League 2 Southern England Regional Finals. With a number of schools being delayed in traffic, teams were placed in pools as they arrived and the Minterne found themselves grouped with Northampton, Wycombe and Oxford.
They started with a thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory over Northampton before losing to Wycombe courtesy of a late winner. Despite a superb performance from the opposition goalkeeper Minterne went on to win 1-0 in their final pool game.
Plymouth were their opponents in the semi-finals, both sides were evenly matched but a late winner saw Minterne through to the finals where they would face Bristol Rovers. This time three goals in the first six minutes meant the dream became a reality and Minterne were heading to Wembley.
As npower Kids Cup champions, Minterne Community Junior School were lucky enough to receive an exclusive training session with former England Defender Gareth Southgate. Gareth passed on some valuable tips and techniques during the session that the team will hopefully be able to utilise in Saturday’s final.
Gillingham FC would like to once again congratulate Harry Hubbard, Bradley Allen, Hayden Woods, James Witt, Joshua Willis, Dillon Tubb, Bradley Atkins and Ben Adams and their teachers. They are an absolute credit to their school and I’m sure you join us all in wishing them the very best of luck at the National Finals at Wembley.