Boreham Wood U19s were crowned the English College National Cup Champions on Wednesday after a hard fought win against current holders Gateshead.

Wood had to progress through the competition against the likes of Worthing College, Bath City, SEEVIC, Gateshead, Walford & North Shropshire with them scoring an impressive 16 goals and only conceding 1 goal after extra time in the Semi – Final which is a huge accolade for any side in a cup competition.

They faced the favourites in the Final, Gateshead who have won the competition an impressive 7 times and also they were looking to retain the Championship for the second year in a row.

Wood started bright with them having an early chance through top goal scorer Simeon Akinola but wasn’t able to work Dawson in the Gateshead goal.

Lone striker brown was allowed to turn and burst past both Bradley Fraser and Ruddock Yala and go one on one with Baker Owers for the inspirational stopper to stand up tall and make Brown shot wide of the mark.

After the break Boreham Wood were awesome in their play with some real tempo and drive they were able to penetrate the Gateshead back line, first Ruddock Yala was denied goal of the season after the centre half found himself in the opposition box to bend his effort goalbound for Short Gateshead left back to clear off the line. Pelly Ruddock was also denied by the frame work after he turned Short outside the box to drive a half volley goal bound only for it to rattle the crossbar.

Wood soon got their reward after Harvey Scott and Pelly Ruddock combined for the latter to be mowed down by the advancing Goal keeper, for the penalty to be awarded.

Up steeped Charlie Hunter who previously missed in the Semi – Final to seal the victory, but he showed awesome character and was rewarded when he drove his penalty into the bottom right hand corner giving the keeper no chance.

Wood still had 20minutes to see out the game with them heroic in the challenge and putting their bodies on the line to stop any threat. Gateshead threw everything they had at Wood who continued to soak up the pressure and see out the remaining minutes to be Crowned the National College Champions of 2011.

Squad:C Bakers Owers. L Close. T Walker. R Yala. B Fraser. C Hunter. J Lawal. H Scott. L Griffin. C Lancaster. S Akinola. Subs J Wilton. D Sesay (used). P Ruddock (used). L Lane. S O’connor (used)

Goalscorer
C Hunter 68min

Manager Luke Garrard was jubilant at the end of the game “ We set up to achieve what we did today the whole season, we know we had a special group of boys, we had good strength, work rate & team spirit and on their day can match anyone. They were faultless in their performance from start to finish and they went about their business in a professional manner. Gateshead offered us very little threat which only echoes the strength that we possess, for us to go all competition only conceding one goal in the Semi – Final after extra time is a real achievement. As a club we have worked extremely hard in the last couple of years to achieve what we did today and all the hard work and effort of everyone makes today that little bit more special.”

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