HELSTON under 8s took part in the UK and Continental football tournament organised by R&T Tours of Romford Essex at Mullion and RNAS Culdrose.

Their group consisted of teams from Culdrose, Truro City and Callowbrook swifts from Redditch near Birmingham. The boys experienced four days of football playing 10 games in total. The boys won their league after playing nine, winning five, drawing two and losing two. Their reward for some hard work, team work and exciting football was to take part in the final.

The opponents were Callowbrook swifts and the game was watched by a crowd of well over a 100.

It was always going to be tight as the previous three meetings ended in two draws and a defeat. The whistle went and Helston went straight at their opponents with Ben and Dan Turner chasing the ball down gaining possession.

Their swift attacking play got the ball forward to Ross Leathley who saw him swerve one way then the next, weaving his way through the defence only to see his shot go wide.

The Swifts were strong and they immediately replied with a good move down the right but their strikers were met by some tough tackling from James Williams and George Wake in the Helston defence.

The game was close with good efforts from the Callowbrook players but each attack was mirrored by great work from Zack Bramwell and Dominic Hannaford leading the Helston line.

The game finished 0-0 at full time so extra time was needed to separate these two sides. Helston tried exceptionally hard to break down the opposition with good forward runs by Ben, Dan, Zack and Ross but it was the defending by Daniel Trubshaw, George Wake, Jordan Willey and some outstanding goalkeeping by man of the match Ross Atkinson that kept Helston's dream alive.

The final finished 0-0 and both teams appeared calm as they prepared themselves for a penalty shoot out. The parents and spectatators were tense, but the players took it in their stride even when the Callowbrook spectators ran on the pitch and celebrated prematurely after three penalties.

The ref calmed everyone down and the shoot out carried on. It went to sudden death with even the goalkeepers taking penalties and Callowbrook were the eventual winners 7-6.

The Helston U8 had a fantastic tournament and received their finalist trophies from Martin Peters at the presentation afternoon held at Mullion Holiday Park.

Squad: R. Atkinson, G. Wake, J Williams, Z. Bramwell, B. Turner, D. urner, R. Leathley, J. Willey, D. Hannaford, D. Trubshaw.