For this group of players it would be their last chance to win any silverware at junior level.

 The 16 man squad (Josh Turner had his cast of in time to make the final) were all due to move into senior and under 19’s after this game. Having narrowly missed out last year against Brooklands the team was ready to give it another shot against a Cheadle team that had breezed through to the final.

Mersey and Cheadle had not met during the season and we did not know what to expect. The instructions to the lads were very clear..... keep it simple and enjoy yourselves. We had a habit this season of starting games slowly, having to work hard to turn games around. Finals are not the place to have bad starts..... 2-0 down in less the 5 mins was NOT in our game plan.

A 5 goal flourish from Ryan Hunns saw us 5-3 up at quarter time. We lost the second quarter 2-0 so it was 5-5 at half time. The defensive matchups needed to change. The master stroke from this point on was to switch Calum Kilburn onto their No 40 (Dan Condren) who was their main threat.

Level at half time was an ok position but we needed to take control. A 3-1 third quarter with Ryan Hunns 1, Jamie Hodgetts 1 and Joe Sherlock 1 put us at 8-6. JT (Josh Turner) was working hard in the midfield hoovering up ground balls assisted by Joe Anderson from George Ferrario’s efforts at the face off. We had lifted our game and the team spirit on the pitch and on the bench was fantastic.

So to the last quarter, It was tense, was this going to be our year? A fast break from our defence man Callum Kilburn to Jamie Hodgetts put us at 9-6, we were on our way but Cheadle were not done, 9-7,9-8. They called a timeout to try to settle and get the equaliser but we regained possession and Ben Perez on the fast break fed Joe Sherlock on the crease to make it 10-8, they won the face off and came back to 10-9. Then 2 mins of stress followed.

The end of the game was frantic, we just had to keep the ball, not easy under that pressure. We had it, then it was dropped, a scramble resulting in a Cheadle penalty was the chance we needed. We had told everybody at practice if we were up with minutes to play don’t go for goal. Ryan Hunns had the ball in our attack, he held on to it for 30 sec, when the double came he passed it behind to Jamie Hodgetts who killed the game off.

HEATON MERSEY 10 CHEADLE 9

Quarter scores:     5-3
            5-5
            8-6
            10-9

Mersey Scorers:

Ryan Hunns – 6
Jamie Hodgetts – 2
Joe Sherlock - 2

Well done to all the lads for a great team performance