S&HCFA Youth Cup goes to Junior Blades

Sheffield United Junior Blades won the youth challenge cup final supported by Bluefin on Sunday win after a 5-1 win against rivals Sheffield...

Corbin Shires, Callum Greaves, Regan Jay, Grant Barker and Liam Greaves struck for Junior Blades with Ayo Adebajo netting a consolation for Young Owls.

This was a highly competitive game between the two sides right from the off, with both teams, Young Owls in familiar blue and white stripes with the Junior Blades in their change strip of yellow shirts and blue shorts showing signs of nerves as they exchanged possession.

It was Young Owls who had the first real chance of the game as Josh Hobson forced Junior Blades goalkeeper Ewan Doman into making a great save at his near post.

Junior Blades then started to take more control of the game more after this, with several dangerous set pieces but they were unable to take their chances against a stubborn Owls defence.

The Young Owls then looked to break on the counter and following a free-kick on the half way line their striker Theo Wilson produced an ambitious bicycle kick which fell wide of the goal but drew huge cheers from both sets of fans.

The breakthrough then came for Blades as Corbin Shires found himself in space on the edge of the 18 yard box and hit an amazing strike into the far left corner giving the goalkeeper no chance of stopping it.

Blades looked full of confidence after the goal and grabbed a second goal with Callum Greaves controlling the ball and volleying it into the net after the ball had brushed the head of team mate Aaron Wilmot for the assist.

Owls were unfortunate to find themselves trailing by two goals after two spectacular strikes and the Blades went in search for a third, which soon came as Regan Jay side-footed calmly into the net showing great composure to beat the goal keeper.

They showed real determination try to get back into the match and then on the stroke of half time were rewarded when Adebajo flicked on an incoming free-kick from the half way line, which lobbed over a retreating Ewan Doman in the Blades goal, putting the Owls right back in the game.

At the start of the second half, with the wind behind them the blue and whites began to dominate possession in a bid to force a way back into the game.

They soon had a chance to pull one back when Thomas Bamford who was proving a real threat all game created some space for himself, but his right footed volley was parried to safety by the Blades keeper.

Owls then went down to 10 men after Joel Dix was given a 2nd yellow card for a late challenge.4

Blades capitalised on the extra man with defender Grant Barker heading past the goalkeeper from a set-piece.

In the remaining ten minutes Owls continued to show resilience and were still looking to score goals but this left them open in defence.

Liam Greaves punished them with a volley in the penalty area to beat the Owls Keeper and give Blades a 5-1 victory at the end of the match.

Sheffield Wednesday Young Owls manager Craig Wilson said: “The best side won. We occasional got to them. These are the best two sides in the South Yorkshire league without doubt.”

Sheffield United Junior Blades manager said: “I am so pleased with the win. We have had a great season and we played very well today and are all so happy with the win.”

Referee, Kevin Wagstaff, and his team of assistants, Callum Gough, Gareth Thomas and Neil Rose, kept the match flowing throughout and a good game was played in a competitive spirit, a credit to both teams.

Just under 200 spectators had enjoyed a game that was end to end and full of incident and Bruce Bickerdike, Sheffield & Hallamshire CFA Council Member and Secretary of the host club Parkgate FC, presented the cup and medals to the officials and the two teams.

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