We recently ran our annual Football League Community Cup on the 10^th February at our Beechings Cross Training Ground. The competition was open to schools from around the county and we were extremely pleased with the response. We had 36 teams registered for the competition and they were all playing for the chance to take a step closer to playing at Wembley at the end of the season.

The day started off in serious doubt with blizzard conditions hitting the region, forcing a few schools to unfortunately pull out of the tournament. The FITC coaches battled hard through the weather to get everything set up and were rewarded with bright sunshine from thereon in, meaning that the day would go ahead.

The competition started off with 6 groups of 6 teams who all played against one another in a round-robin format. From this we took the 6 group winners and the 2 best runners-up into the quarter final stage. These teams were Sandling Primary, Woodlands Primary, Herne Juniors, Brompton Westbrook, Ditton Juniors, Chiddingstone Primary, St Margarets Juniors and Deanwood Primary.

The quarter-finals couldn't have been closer with two of the games being won 1-0 and the other two being won on penalties. The winning teams were now into the semi-finals, which saw Woodlands take on Herne and Chiddingstone battle it out with Deanwood.

Deanwood were the first school into the final after narrowly beating Chiddingstone 1-0 with a well taken goal. The 2^nd semi-final proved a lot closer and it wasn't until sudden-death penalties that we eventually saw Herne Juniors take there place in the final.

So Herne Juniors from Herne Bay and Deanwood Primary from Rainham would play for the chance to represent Gillingham FC in the regional finals at Leyton Orient in April.

The game was another close encounter with neither team wanting to make a mistake and both goalkeepers making sure that they did all they could to keep the ball out of the net. However, mid-way through the game Herne snatched a goal after some neat build up play and were able to hold on until the final whistle, so taking the title and lifting the trophy.

Congratulations to Herne Junior School who move onto the next stage of the contest and a big thank you to all of the schools who entered the competition and made the day such a huge success!