UPDATE: Following their success at the Futsal Championships Ross Juniors Girls U10s are to be presented with certificates of achievement by the Mayor of Ross-on-Wye, Councillor Nigel Gibbs.Ross Juniors Under 10 girls set the football pitch alight with their performances at the FA Futsal National Finals in Birmingham. They were originally thrilled to have just won a place at the finals, but they went on to win five out of five games and win the Nationals.

After qualifying from the Herefordshire region, the Ross Juniors Under 10 girls progressed through the hard West Midlands Regional Finals to earn themselves a place last Saturday at the FA Futsal National Finals in Birmingham. Just eight teams representing the geographical areas of England qualified for the finals, which was played at the Play Arena in Birmingham.

To get to the finals was a massive achievement and anything after that, in the coaches and parents minds, was a bonus. The girls though had other thoughts. They were placed in a group of four with the top two guaranteed a semi final place.

First up for Ross was Harvesters Girls FC from St Albans, Ross started brilliantly, their passing was a joy to watch and a marker had been put down with an emphatic 4-0 win. Bel scored two, Millie one and Eva one.

The second group match saw the girls pitted against Newhaven Girls FC, again the girls kept possession brilliantly and dominated the play with great passing football, the score finished 3-0 with Eva scoring two and Bel one, the score line should have been much higher.

The final group game saw the girls against Melksham Town FC of Wiltshire. Ross, again, were exceptional and took the game to the opponents, Eva added another two goals and Amy, with a 20 yard screamer, scored one to seal another 3-0 win and top of the group place was secured.

Up next for the girls was West Ham Girls, Champions of London Futsal. The semi final was very different to the other games, Ross had less possession, the game was feisty and the refereeing was strict, particularly on Ross. In games like this, goalie Hannah comes into her own, her kicking was exceptional and she blocked shot after shot.

Ross took a 1-0 lead due to a fine finish from Millie, but West Ham were soon back in the game with a goal from a harshly awarded penalty which saw them pull level. The fouls were totting up and Ross were warned that one more foul and a goal would be deducted, as per Futsal rules. Frustratingly, West Ham’s assaults on Millie were perceived by the referee as fair, but hard tackles.

With 20 seconds to go and penalties looking likely, Millie burst through and coolly placed the ball under the advancing West Ham goalie to make it 2-1, which won Ross the game.

The final saw Ross play Melksham Town again, as they had beaten Boldon CA Girls from South Shields on penalties to qualify. In another tense game Ross controlled the ball and the excellent Bel added two more to her total to make it 5 for the tournament and give Ross a 2-0 lead. Melksham, though, were not out of it and added a fine goal on the break to make it 2-1. The Ross defence of Lara and Izzy were tremendous and held out as the clock wound down, the whistle finally went and Ross were FA national champions of England.To read the article in full, please see this week's edition of the Ross Gazette.