Somerset Women South West Champions
Saturday 1st June, The Somerset Ladies Representative squad managed by Neil Hayward and assisted on the day by Grace Channing and Nick Doble made the trip up the M5 to Gloucestershire FA in Almondsbury for the Annual South West Counties tournament against Dorset, Devon and Gloucester.
Somerset got off to a great start in very hot conditions with a 1-0 win over the hosts Gloucester, and followed this up with a 2-1 win over Devon. This win ensured Somerset progressed to the Final, as the other counties were all drawing against each other, and so meant Somerset could not be caught at the top of the group.
Somerset’s last group game was against Dorset, and a Win for Dorset would guarantee them a final spot to play us in the final, but Somerset ran out 4-1 winners to set up a final against Gloucester.
In the final, there was no separating either team and after extra time in very hot conditions, the score remained 0-0. The winners would be decided on Penalties and after 5 pens each the score was 3-3. This meant sudden death and after Gloucester had missed their 7th penalty, it was left to Somerset to score theirs to win the tournament. Somerset converted their 7th penalty to win the tournament.
It was a great effort by the whole Somerset squad and the players were a credit to Somerset and their clubs. We could not be more proud of the squad and the effort they put in, especially in the hot conditions, and with some players missing due to work commitments or other commitments. This puts us in a good position, for when the round robin competition starts end of July, early August. With further training sessions planned before then, we the management team are very optimistic and cannot wait to work with squad again.