St Mark’s Primary School from Ealing and West Lodge Primary School from Harrow will represent Middlesex in the next stage of the English Schools’ FA Small-Sided Cups after winning their respective County Rounds at Edmonton County School.

In the Boys’ Competition, St Mark’s progressed through the Group Stage without conceding a goal and finished level on points with Enfield Champions St George’s, who topped the group table on goal difference.

The two sides met again in the Final following a 0-0 draw during the round-robin. However, the second meeting of the schools was won by the team from Ealing, who defeated St George’s 3-0 to take the title.

The Girls’ Competition was incredibly close; Hermitage from Hillingdon went through the event unbeaten but, having drawn all four of their matches, narrowly missed out on the Final. Edmonton County Primary finished top of the standings at the end of the Group Stage, having won three of their four fixtures and were joined in the decider by West Lodge, who overcame a tricky start to win two out of their four matches and qualify for the decider.

Edmonton County had defeated West Lodge 2-0 during the round-robin but the Harrow side held the hosts to a 1-1 draw in the Final; extra time proving unable to separate the sides. A penalty competition was therefore required to determine which school would be the County Champion and the tie-breaker went the way of West Lodge. However, Edmonton County should be extremely proud of their performance, given that they were undefeated in open play throughout the tournament.

Our two Champions will now be put forward to represent Middlesex in the Regional Round of the national competition against their counterparts from Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Inner London, Kent, Norfolk, Surrey and Sussex. They go on to that stage with our congratulations and best wishes.

The Association wishes to place on record our thanks to Sally Nugent from the Enfield PE Team, without whom the tournament couldn’t have taken place, and to Edmonton County School, whose outstanding facilities proved an excellent venue.

The full results from both competitions can be seen by clicking here.