It has been an excellent couple of weeks for the Cray Wanderers Youth structure. The U13s Girls side won the The Merit U13s Kent County Cup Final on Sunday 2nd April after beating Hayden Youth 11-0 in the Final. There will be an article by Derek Pullman’s in Saturday’s match programme.
The match played at Maidstone United’s Gallagher Stadium saw Cray race into a 6-0 lead at half time effectively ending the match and went on to score five more goals with Chidimma Nwokedi scoring five and Anna Colnaghi a hat-trick. Cray were four nil up in twenty minutes with Nwokedi opening the scoring in the fourth minute with Colnaghi notching her first in the 13th minute. Nwokedi made it four with a brace in the 15th and 20th minutes and five minutes later Faye Miller scored a fifth. Kate Mickleburgh made it 6-0 on stoppage time.
Colnaghi scored her second a minute after half time followed by two goals in a minute nine minutes after the break from Colnaghi completing her hat-trick followed by a classy free kick from Mickleburgh in off the crossbar made it 8-0. Nwokedi added two more goals in the 50th and 56th minutes to complete the scoring and win the trophy in some style. They are also well placed in the league and London Cup so could be more silverware to come.
Team: Maisie Pitt, Neave Palmer, Ellie Harkin, Frankie Davis, Maddie Waite, Izzy Pantony, Mofie Adepoju, Kate Mickleburgh, Faye Miller, Chidimma Nwokedi, Anna Colnaghi, Sofia Stanton, Belle Mcnally, Poppy Riley, Elisha Striesow.
“We did well,” said Cray manager Danny Stanton. “I thought they would struggle with our pace up front so we tried to exploit that.
“If we got two or three early goals we knew it would work in our favour and they’d have to come out and leave more space for us to exploit.
We took our chances well. Chidimma is pretty potent and has got over 100 goals this year. It was a really good team performance, cup finals are there to be won and we’ve done it. To be fair, we lost to them twice last year so we owed them one.
The girls are flying this year. We’re a year younger and have got five league games left, if we win all five then we win the league against the likes of Crystal Palace, Wimbledon and Watford. We’re a good side. They work hard and know their strengths, the girls at the back are strong and dominate most games as well.”
Neil Smith said “They are an amazing team and the management team are unbelievable too. The girls have a great future individually and collectively and I really want to promote their efforts. I want to get an Academy girls’ side and eventually a women’s team because you can see just how much it means to these girls and their families. We want more girls playing for Cray and something I am looking to bring into the club. The U13s winning trophies the way they are puts us firmly on the map and promoting football for all and an environment to do so”
Maisie Pitt, Neave Palmer, Ellie Harkin, Frankie Davis, Maddie Waite, Izzy Pantony, Mofie Adepoju, Kate Mickleburgh, Faye Miller, Chidimma Nwokedi, Anna Colnaghi, Sofia Stanton, Belle Mcnally, Poppy Riley, Elisha Striesow.
The U13s Girls success follows hot on the heels of the Cray Wanderers Academy side winning the League title in the first season as a club and paraded the trophy at the last home game with Horsham. This proves that the club structure underneath the first team is coming along nicely and producing new future stars for the men and women’s game.
