Swinton’s Beechfield United’s U14 Predators saw off allcomers with an unbeaten run to lift the English International Super Cup title.
In the contest at Wythenshawe Sports Complex the young footballers showed off their silky skills against tough competition in the form of Billinge FC, Youth Kicks, Widnes Dragons and Abraham Moss.
Seeing off Youth Kicks in the first round with two goals from Joseph Lydiate, George Davies and Dylan Meredith then helped the Predators push past Billinge in the second with a quality 2-1 win.
The Under-14s then put Widnes Dragons to the sword with a 12-0 victory. Davies, Meredith, Lydiate all featured on the score sheet along with Brandon Kent, Kieron McCarthy, Dylan Durose.
In the quarter-finals Beechfield saw off Abraham Moss 5-0, and squeaked past a resurgent Youth Kicks after going behind twice in the semis to set up the Grand Final against The New Saints, an academy team from Wales.
Manager Gareth Kent explained: “We played some great football throughout the tournament but faced our biggest challenge in the final.
“We pressed hard in a tight first half, which ended 0-0.
“At half-time me and my assistant Martin McCarthy had a good chat with the boys, telling them: ‘It’s now or never – we’re in the final and we can’t give up.'”
The Predators didn’t fail to impress with their non-stop running – even in the pouring rain – then they got the chance they were waiting for.
Joseph Lydiate picked up the ball from a splendid pass out wide by Brandon Kent, shook off his marker with a drop of the shoulder and slipped inside the box to smash the ball in the back of the net.
With just 10 minutes Beechy chased down the opposition hard to open up another Kent-Lydiate one-two punch, with Josephy burying the ball for a 2-0 win.
Gareth said: “All the boys were jumping on each other celebrating a great final win.
“Me and Martin were so proud of the boys’ performance and they fully deserved to lift the trophy.”
