Colchester United

Schools had qualified for the finals by winning their respective school sport partnership leagues and all the finals were close fought matches.

In the Year 7 boys final, Thurstable School showed a bit more composure in front of goal to eventually beat Clacton County High School 2-0.

The Year 8 boys final saw Clacton County High School gain some revenge over Thurstable by winning 4-1 in the most entertaining game of the finals, both teams playing open attractive football. 

The Year 9 boys final pitched Colne Community School against Stanway. After a very close game, that saw Colne miss several gilt edged chances, Stanway won the game 1-0 thanks to a bullet headed goal in the very first minute of the match.

The Year 10 final between Clacton County High School and Philip Morant was yet another close game with both sides creating good chances but a goal in each half allowed Philip Morant to run out 2-1 winners despite a spirited late effort by the Clacton based school.

In the Year 11 final, the Gilberd School beat Clacton Coastal Academy 1-0 in another close fought game.

Both schools created good chances in front of a noisy crowd with the winner scored in the first minute of the second half. It was the first time Clacton Coastal Academy team had qualified for this age group final and they gave an excellent account of themselves in front of coach loads of their supporters.

In the Colleges final, the Colne College beat Thurstable College 3-0 with the game hanging in the balance at 1-0 until the last 15 minutes when Colne went on to score two more late goals to win the trophy.

The girls finals were also held at the Weston Homes Community Stadium with a third age group added this year.

Three age groups of finals took place with U12s, U14s and U16s games played in a 7 a side format.

In the U12s final, Colne create several chances, including hitting the post, but Stanway took the lead late in the second half. Colne equalised with the last kick of the game to take the final into extra-time where Stanway scored the winning goal to run out 2-1 winners.

In the U14 girls final, a high scoring affair was eventually won by Philip Morant 4-3 over Clacton County High School.

The U16 girls final saw the Gilberd take an early lead but Clacton County High School came storming back to win 4-1.  

Chairman and Secretary of North East Essex Schools FA, Phil Coleman thanked Colchester United FC for the use of the stadium for all the schools finals, saying: "The use of the Weston Homes Community Stadium for our finals has certainly raised the profile of schools football in the district.

"All our schools football fixtures are played from February to April and students now know that their efforts can be rewarded with a final at the stadium.  

"All of the finals were played in great spirit with a lot of talented players on show.

"In addition to the support from Colchester United FC, the Gazette and photos produced by DE Photos are raising the whole profile of schools football in our two sports partnerships and across the North East Essex district, it is developing back to where it used to be with a clear structure and progress to these finals."

Year 7 - Thurstable 2-0 Clacton County High School

Year 8 - Clacton County High School 4-1 Thurstable

Year 9 - Stanway 1-0 Colne

Year 10 - Philip Morant 2-1 Clacton County High School

Year 11 - Gilberd 1-0 Clacton Coastal Academy

Colleges - Colne 3-0 Thurstable

Under 12 Girls - Stanway 2-1 Colne

Under 14 Girls – Philip Morant 4-3 Clacton County High School

With thanks to Phil Coleman for his help with this report.

Under 16 Girls - Clacton County High School 4-1 Gilberd