HINTON & FINCHLEY REVOLUTION HARINGEY RETAIN THE GIRLS' U16 CUP
Our last cup matches of the 2022/23 season, the finals of the Middlesex FA Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 Girls’ Cups were played on Saturday, 27th May at Rectory Park. We reintroduced our own girls’ competitions last season, following the recent growth of the girls’ game, to replace the Capital Girls’ Cups, which involved several county FAs. Our final match of the day was the Under 16 Cup final, between Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey Girls and Pitshanger Girls.
Both clubs play in the Junior Premier League.
Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey were the current holders of this trophy. In last season’s final, their Under 16 team beat their Under 15 team 7-2.
23 teams entered this season’s competition.
Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey received walk-overs in rounds 1 and 2 and in the semi-final. In the one match that they were required to win, the quarter-final, they beat Kensington Dragons Youth U15 Girls 12-0 (away).
Pitshanger Girls received a bye in round 1 and had a walk-over in round 2. They then beat Actonians Girls 4-1 (away) in the quarter-final and Queens Park Rangers Women 5-0 (at home) in the semi-final.
Matches in this competition are played over 40 minutes in each half, with rolling substitutions.
Haringey were eventually comfortable winners of this incident packed match, which was played in a sporting spirit. After an evenly contested opening, they went ahead midway through the first half. Pitshanger soon equalised but Haringey quickly regained the lead and then scored twice more, to lead 4-1 at the interval. There was only one more goal, scored by Haringey midway through the second half, giving them a 5-1 win.
NOTE: I make no apologies, if I have incorrectly identified any of the Pitshanger Girls in the following report. The players’ numbers, woven into the backs of their shirts, were completely indecipherable.
Pitshanger did the early attacking. Haringey keeper, Liamara Hensel Berg had to leave her area to thwart Amana Oguntuga. Amana was prominent in further attacks. She brought a save from Liamara and then she ran through the middle and forced a corner.
A run by Jada Hemmings-Dean’s was halted by a timely tackle by Haringey’s Lola Shack. Then another good tackle, by Lexi Wade deprived Chloe Gregory of a shooting opportunity.
Haringey took the lead in the 20th minute, through Mia Obeng, who was set up by Lexi Wade.
Mia’s trickery then took her through the Pitshanger defence again but she was foiled by the keeper at the expense of a corner.
Jada Hemmings-Dean equalised for Pitshanger in the 25th minute. She went through the middle, took the ball round the keeper and placed it into the net.
Mia Obeng ran through the Pitshanger rear-guard but she was forced too wide, in the process of evading the keeper, to capitalize.
Erin Radburn restored Haringey’s lead, with a great goal in the 28th minute, when she hit a cross-shot into the top corner of the net.
Pitshanger hit back and were foiled by the Haringey keeper, who just beat Jada to a good through ball.
Pitshanger custodian, Eden Orliaku tipped Saoirse Hourigan’s awkwardly bouncing freekick over the bar. However, Saoirse increased Haringey’s lead in the 39th minute, with a high shot, which went through the keeper’s hands.
Eden parried Mia Obeng’s shot for a corner and then saved at Lexi Wade’s feet.
Mia Obeng started the move for Haringey’s 4th goal and then received the final pass before netting with a low shot.
Score at half-time: Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey 4 Pitshanger 1
Jada Hemmings-Dean shot just past the Haringey upright.
Mia Obeng then accelerated through the Pitshanger middle but also shot wide, under pressure.
In a series of Pitshanger attacks, Ruby Havens broke through but was foiled by the weight of defensive numbers. A high shot from Lillie Bixby was pushed onto the crossbar by keeper, Liamara Hensel Berg. Megan Page headed narrowly wide from a corner kick. Then Amana Oguntuga headed onto the bar from another corner kick.
A good long ball released Mia Obeng but she was dispossessed by Chloe Gregory’s well-timed interception.
Emily Pickard’s cross-shot, from the left, just missed the far post. Cerys Rutherford made an important tackle on the ever-dangerous Mia Obeng.
A through ball released Haringey’s Mati Donald, who was thwarted by a brave save at her feet by the girl who had now replaced Eden Orliaku between the posts.
In the 61st minute, Saoirse Hourigan set up Mati Donald, who ran 40 yards and slotted the ball home for Haringey’s 5th goal.
A clever run then enabled Mati to collect Mai’s pass and again test the replacement keeper, who saved at her near post, with her feet. Then Mati demonstrated good pace and made another break but Chloe Gregory made a saving tackle.
In the 70th minute, Erin Radburn took the ball through the middle and was challenged by the Pitshanger keeper, who handled outside of her penalty area and consequently received a red card.
Result: Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey 5 Pitshanger 1
Referee, Gemma Day controlled the match very well, ably supported by her team.
Middlesex FA President, John Davies was the Guest of Honour. John was introduced to the teams and match officials, before the kick off and presented the cup and the individual mementoes afterwards. He selected Haringey winger, Mati Donald as the Player of the Match.
TEAM LINE-UPS:
Hinton & Finchley Revolution Haringey: Liamara Hensel Berg, Lola Shack, Tayla Dennis (capt), Lexi Wade, Amber Leighton, Emily Pickard, Victoria Racheva, Louise Askey, Erin Radburn, Saoirse Hourigan and Mia Obeng,
Rolling substitutes: Mati Donald and Keira Morl.
Managers: Adem Ali and Frank Obeng Coaches: Gavin Dennis and Jack Manzi.
Pitshanger: Eden Orliaku, Megan Guthrie (capt), Esmee Tribe, Megan Page, Sadie Lake, Chloe Gregory, Grace Noble, Libby Monaghan, Amana Oguntuga, Jada Hemmings-Dean and Cerys Rutherford.
Rolling substitutes; Darcey Taggart, Tegan Gibbs, Ruby Petch, Ruby Havens and Lillie Bixby.
Manager: Shaun Channer Assistant Managers: Dev Bhuptani, Rishi Sadha and Yasir Latif Physio: Richard Mahoney.
Referee: Gemma Day Assistant Referees: John O’Kane and Miles Owen-Thursfield Fourth Official: Ben Sumner.
Attendance: 119.
This match saw the conclusion of our programme of 25 cup finals (26 if you include the Capital Girls Junior Cup final), starting on 16th March. This massive undertaking was the responsibility of Cup Final Co-ordinator, Nick Phipps, who did a great job, supported mainly by his colleagues, Oliver Ellery, Jacob Ballheimer and Daniel May. Congratulations and thanks are due to them and also to all of the other members of our HQ team and councillors, who were involved in various capacities. 10 of the finals were played at the County headquarters and the contribution of our brilliant Rectory Park Team was also first class.
We thank Chris and Jim for covering this final match, on a long and hot day. We also give our thanks to them following the completion of 26 finals for Jim and 25 for Chris through our Cup Finals programme. As ever, the pair have been through the photos and picked out their favourites, some of which are in this report. Chris has also kindly provided a full album of imagery from the game.
Full Album courtesy of Chris Benn
Photography - Chris Benn