HOCKEY: The youngsters of Stourport gained an outstanding victory in the final of the Royal Air Force National U-15s Plate, beating Havant 3-1.
Boss Peter Terry and coach Nick Lewis felt Stourport's Pakistan internationals Imran and Irfan Yousaf had played their part.
Their focused coaching over the last six weeks helped the team impress on Old Loughtonians' water-based surface at Chigwell, London.
Centre-forward Max Totney created and then finished off the opening goal after 16 minutes.
Stourport continued to create chances from short-corners and open play but did not score until 10 minutes from the interval.
Marc Edwards finished off a short-corner with a clean strike that the goalkeeper could get nowhere near.
Havant, coached by 1988 Olympic gold medalist David Faulkner, could not crack the defence, marshalled by goalkeeper Lewis Bevan and sweeper Andy Cavendish.
After the break, Havant's scoring chances were soon blocked and Stourport retained as much of the ball as possible.
Edwards extended their lead on 45 minutes to put the match beyond Havant.
Man-of-the-match, Stourport captain Luke Carless, grew in confidence in midfield as the game progressed.
He was well supported by Edwards and James Powell, giving his best display of the campaign.
Causing problems for the Havant defence on the wing were Alex Vale and Ashley Jones.
However, an unfortunate deflection from a Stourport stick turned a shot into the Stourport goal for a consolation.
In the final 10-minutes, Kit Pannell, Ben Everett-Li and Scott Nelson performed their defensive duties to perfection, while William Terry and Kyle Gayne also impressed.
This was the inaugural year of the RAF-sponsored competition for English club sides.
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