SEABURN DENE ENJOY TREBLE TROPHY THRILL
PRIMARY SCHOOLS SEVEN-A-SIDE CROWN GOES TO SEABURN DENE AFTER SHOOT-OUT DRAMA
A Wearside primary school landed a unique footballing treble in a nail-biting final of finals.
Seaburn Dene Primary School clinched the Sunderland Primary Schools’ Football Association seven-a-side league overall winners title with a penalty shoot-out win over neighouring St Benet’s RC Primary, from Fulwell.
It caps a memorable season for the 221-pupil Torver Crescent school who also lifted the five-a-side McAuliffe Trophy, while lifting the C League trophy after an unbeaten regular league season.
In the finals, where league winners and runners-up faced each other, at Castletown Primary, Seaburn Dene progressed to the semi-finals with a 1-1 draw with Hasting Hill, a 1-0 win over St Mary’s RC Primary and a 1-0 loss to St Benet’s.
Qualifying for the semifinals, Seaburn’s next opponents, Bexhill, found Seaburn passing hard to contain, but were saved on many occasions by the woodwork.
The game finished normal time without a goalh and progressed to extra time with, again, both teams unable to break the deadlock.
The match duly went to penalties, with Seaburn’s Ben Charlton, Joseph Barnes and goalkeeper Joshua Golding slotting the vital goals, with Bexhill’s youngsters failing to score, setting up a final rematch – and a derby – with St Benet’s.
Neither team played their best football in the closefought final, with players in general looking nervous as the game progressed through normal regulation time and extra time, still level at 0-0, setting up the second set of penalties of the night.
With both sides missing opportunities to seize the tie, Gabrial Hutcheon stepped up to win it the trophy for Seaburn Dene with his wellplaced shot.
Teacher and coach Richard Traves said: “This team have worked extremely hard to get to this point and for a small school have done tremendously well.
“It is a testimony to all the fantastic sport we provide at Seaburn Dene, to do not only well in football competitions, but across a range of sports.”