Durham Johnson U14 Girls football team in prestigious English Schools' Cup final

The team will take on Blenheim High School at the fantastic Madejski Stadium, home of Reading FC, on Wednesday, May 23.

Back in August 2017, when the draw for the first round of the English Schools’ Cup was publicised to 317 teams from across the country, the girls could only have dared dream of the journey they would be starting.

However, nine months, eight victories and 36 goals later, the team find themselves preparing for the final.

Team manager Andrea White of Durham Johnston PE Department said: “The team’s grit, determination, skill and team spirit has seen off local teams, plus teams from Leeds, Blackburn, Hull and Huntington.

“The girls have played some fantastic matches along the way, most notably the quarter final against a team from Blackburn.

“Despite being 2–0 down with 10 minutes to go, they fought back to take the match to penalties, scoring all five of their spot kicks to edge through to the semi-finals, where they comfortably beat tournament favourites, St Ivo School Huntington.

“All of their girls have played their part in getting to the finals, from Maisie Maguire the team captain with her motivational team talks, Emily Salmon our top goal scorer with 20 goals and Erin Jacques our remarkable goalkeeper.

“We wish the girls the best of luck for the next stage of this adventure.”.