Last weekend saw the annual Northamptonshire Ladies Charter Standard Tournament (11 v 11) take place at our usual venue of Grammarians Sports ground in Wellingborough.
Seven teams entered, Thrapston, Billing, Rothwell Town and Thorplands in Pool A, just Peterborough Northern Star, Trinity and Northampton Town in Pool B, due to a late withdrawal.
The teams in Pool A played 30-minute matches in a round robin tournament and the teams in Pool B played each other over 45 minutes.
It was an extremely windy day and pitch 1 was open to the elements, which had a big part to play in the quality of the games. The first of these was played between Billing and Thorplands, the latter sporting a lovely shiny new blue and white kit and their sole intention for the day was to look the best! They played out a 1-1 draw in the first game, which was followed by two more draws between Thrapston and Rothwell at 0-0 and Billing v Thrapston at 1-1.
Finally, Rothwell, with the more senior players, got a 1-0 win against Thorplands and followed this up with a second victory against Billing, 2-1. The wind seemed to get progressively worse through the afternoon but the players adjusted to it and Thrapston sealed a great 3-0 win against Thorplands to finish second in their group.
In Pool B, both Peterborough Northern Star and AFC Trinity play at least two leagues above Northampton Town so the Cobblers found themselves in a tough draw – at least on paper. Peterborough got a 1-0 win against Trinity, with the latter left to dwell on several missed chances. Next up saw Northampton Town against Peterborough. Northampton have a fairly young team but they weren’t fazed by the opposition and gave as good as they got. With the score at 1-1, Peterborough broke away with 30 seconds to go but a chance to wrap the afternoon up saw them hit the post.
So it was all down to the final game. Again, Northampton started strong and looked dangerous up front. They took a 1-0 lead but were unable to hold on and Trinity levelled.
Therefore the final saw Peterborough Northern Star versus Rothwell Town. As per usual, the event clashes with a huge air show in a neighbouring village, so the final ten minutes and presentation were conducted alongside an amazing display from the red arrows!
Peterborough dominated the final against a tiring Rothwell. It finished 2-0 and once again, we have a new winner’s name on the trophy.
She Kicks – the online news service for women’s football
