Back on the national stage
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Shernold School’s under-11s have qualified for the national finals of the Danone Nations Cup for the second season running.
A year ago they played at Leicester City, just a couple of weeks after the Foxes were crowned champions and on Saturday they’re in action at Stoke City’s Bet 365 Stadium.
Like last year, the school are missing important players – George Moore is at a wedding while William Howell is in Belgium representing his country in karate – but hopes are high they will go one better and get out of the group stage.
Coach Adam Porter, who runs Xercise Innovation, said: “It’s a bit crazy – I never expected to reach the finals again.
“It’s a different team this year, with only two survivors but I’m sure the experience of last year will help us.
“It’s going to be difficult without all our players available but we’ve got good replacements coming in, so there’s no reason why we can’t get out of the group.
“Last year we lost our top scorer but this year we’ve got all three of our goalscorers, it’s defenders we’ve lost.
“We know we’ve got goals in us, it’s a case of keeping them out.
“We know what we’ve got to do and in Nathaniel Turner we’ve got an excellent goalkeeper.”
Shernold won the Maidstone round of the tournament and then came through Kent and south east qualifiers to reach the national finals. The boys, who are being treated to an overnight stay at a hotel near the stadium, are one of eight teams vying to be recognised as the best small school in the country.
The Shernold squad consists of: Nathaniel Turner, Oliver Thackray, Finley Mardell, Joseph Grabham, Ben Gray, Xavier Baldwin, Tom Roantree, Harry Baker, Joshua Pettit.