Isle of Wight primary school finals produce many close contests

The recent finals, which were staged at Steyne Park in Bembridge and at Gurnard Primary School, produced some excellent games.

In the U10 Boys' League final, between The Bay in Sandown and Greenmount, Ryde, Dylan Steward opened the scoring for Greenmount.

The Bay Primary School's Neve Miller, right, scored four against Ryde School. (Image: Jamie Collings)

But a fantastic overheard kick from inside the box from The Bay's Tony Velichkov drew the scores level at the end of full time.

In extra time, a clinical ten-minute period from The Bay saw them take a 4-1 lead through goals by Kian Merrett and Callum Smith (2).

A late Greenmount penalty was converted by Dom Rutter, but it proved to be only a consolation as The Bay ran out 4-2 winners.

In the U9 Boys' League final, Gurnard, who had already won the cup, made it a memorable double with a win against Dover Park, who were appearing in their first school football final for several years.

The Bay's winning U9s team. (Image: Jamie Collings)

In a competitive game, it was Gurnard who took their chances well, with goals from Finn Simpson (2) and man of the match, Ralph Lindsey (2).

Gurnard then took on a strong Barton side in the U11 Boys' Cup.

With the match goalless at half-time, a breakaway goal from Gurnard's Dylan Sangha gave them a 1-0 lead.

Despite late pressure from Barton, which included them hitting the crossbar, the Gurnard defence held strong to see out the victory in a tight game.

The U11 Girls' League final was also a tight affair between Newport and Gurnard.

A strike from Newport's Ruby Lambert and an equaliser by Ruby Clark took the game into extra time.

Gurnard U10 boys on the attack. (Image: Jamie Collings)

But with nothing to separate the sides, the trophy was shared between both schools.

In the U11 Boys' Rural League final, Holy Cross and Northwood went toe-to-toe in a very entertaining match.

Goals from Archie Flower and Logan Longstaff gave Holy Cross an early 2-0 lead.

Northwood, who played some excellent passing football, pressed Holy Cross hard to pull a goal back through Dexter Hayden, then Finley Seabrook scored a dramatic late goal to force extra time.

Holy Cross scored what they thought was the winner through a decent Riley Peacey finish, but Northwood equalised from a corner through Seabrook with the last kick of the game to earn a share of the trophy.

Ryde School U9 girls on the attack against The Bay. (Image: Jamie Collings)

In the U9 Girls' League final, Ryde School had two good early chances to take the lead, but The Bay's Neve Miller, who put in an impressive performance, gave her side a 3-0 first half lead with a hat-trick.

Ryde continued to battle hard in the second half, but a further goal from Miller saw The Bay complete a comfortable 4-0 win.

In the final match, The Bay took on Gurnard in the U10 Boys' Cup final.

The match was very tight, with neither team wanting to concede the first goal.

In extra time, Gurnard's goalkeeper produced a fantastic one-on-one save to keep them in the game, with Kian Merrett hitting the post with the rebound.

Again, two good teams could not be separated, so the trophy was shared.