The teams were split into four groups, with each team playing three eight-minute matches. The girls topped their group: drawing 1–1 with West Earlham Junior School, with Autumn scoring; beating Eastgate Academy 3–0 with Ellie scoring a hat-trick (two penalties and one from open play); and drawing 0–0 with Browick Road in their final group game.

This meant the girls progressed to a quarter-final against Hillside. It was a tough match, and unfortunately, they found themselves 2–0 down. However, with just two minutes remaining, Ellie pulled a goal back, and with only 10 seconds left, Annabelle scored a dramatic equaliser to take the game to penalties. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be our day: our first penalty hit the post, Autumn then calmly scored into the bottom corner, but the next went just over and the final penalty was saved, meaning Hillside progressed to the semi-finals.

The girls still had two play-off matches to determine their final placing, and they continued to play incredible football with some beautiful passing on show. First, they beat Eastgate Academy 3–0 again, with Ellie scoring two more goals and one of the highlights of the day coming from Sofia, who scored her first ever goal! Finally, they beat Caistor 1–0, with Autumn scoring to give us the lead. Rose made three stunning saves in this match, and Autumn produced a tremendous last-ditch tackle in the final minute to secure the win.

These final 2 results meant this amazing group of girls finished 5th in the county – an incredible achievement for such a small school. Out of the 80+ teams who took part in their local School Games tournaments to qualify for the finals, Worstead was the smallest school to make it through. The eventual winners have over 400 children on roll – four times as many as our school!

Goal scorers on the day were Ellie (6), Autumn (3), Annabelle, and Sofia. A special mention must also go to Guinivere and Paige for their fantastic defending and to Rose for her brilliant goalkeeping.

To top off an incredible day of football, Worstead was also awarded the ‘Spirit of the Games’ Award, given to the school that demonstrated the best sporting behaviour throughout the day. After each match, referees graded teams on their sportsmanship, making this award a real testament to the girls’ impeccable behaviour, teamwork, and respect for others on and off the pitch.

We are immensely proud of all the girls – they are a real credit to the school.