The U11 Pumas come up against Kettering FC Reds this morning in the NTFA Cup semi final.

The St Patrick’s pitch held up very well with all the rain during the week but more rain and a cold wind welcomed the players for the match this morning.

First half and the Pumas were on top from the kick off with some nice passing moves out wide with Isla running at the defence and putting in some lovely crosses. The Kettering keeper made some really good saves and Sophia was very unlucky not to score with a back post header. The Pumas were relentless in winning the ball in the Kettering half and Ellie came close with a couple of chances from close range. With the long range kicks from the Kettering goalkeeper they always looked a threat but the Pumas defence worked very well dealing with the bounce of the ball. 0-0 at half time.

Second half and Kettering started the stronger team with some nice passing combinations but the Pumas rallied inspired by a true captains performance from Jorgie to restrict the opposition to a couple of long range chances. The team worked very hard for each other and as Kettering looked for a winner Ellie pounced on a quick ball forward to catch the keeper out of her box and with a lovely lob over her and the race was on to get the final touch. Ellie won the race to score a well deserved goal for the teams efforts. The Pumas carried on working very hard to stop the attacks to see the game out. All in a very good team effort and every player give it their all. A fully deserved win.

First season for this bunch and they are into a well deserved NTFA Cup final. The hard work week in, week out is certainly paying off.

Goal- Ellie ⚽️
Player of the match- Lots of contenders for this but Ellie got it for her hard work off the ball and a really good winner again. ?

Best of luck to Kettering Reds for the remainder of the season.

Thanks as always to our sponsors-
Safefix
BTC Citadel
Larsson UK
McDonald’s Kyra Enterprises

Well done Pumas for reaching your first cup final ⚫️⚪️