Sully Sports 4

Dinas Powys 1

FOR A second consecutive week, the Bluebirds amongst Sully Sports Under 13 were able to celebrate their Sunday in style!

Whilst following the Bluebirds at Wembley last week, the result was more important than the performance - but on Sunday at Jenner Park, the players of Sully Sports Under 13 A showed that both are possible with a stunning performance to win the Harry Gratton Under 13 Vale Of Glamorgan Cup against arch rivals Dinas Powys by 4 goals to 1.

Boosted by new tracksuits for the occasion, courtesy of generous sponsors of the team, Sully's excellent preparation for the game was rocked after only 2 minutes when a quick Dinas break resulted in an accurate cross from the right being superbly headed goal which gave Ed Smith no chance.

This gave Dinas a huge lift and for the first quarter their direct long ball game gave Sully a few problems.

Connor Kavanagh began to set the tempo by winning all the 50/50 challenges, allowing danger men Joe Perry and Luke Dawes to dictate the game with strong running and accurate cross field passing.

With Sully now dominating possession, wide men Rob Jones and Luke Harris were able to swap their defensive duties and start attacking the Dinas fullbacks, creating numerous scoring opportunities.

After 15 minutes Jones neatly played the ball into space allowing Tom Smith to beat the advancing keeper to the ball only for his shot to go agonisingly wide.

This was followed by a period of sustained Sully pressure and a fierce Luke Dawes free kick was unluckily turned over by Smith and a Rob Jones volley was well saved point blank by the agile Dinas keeper.

At the back the Sully defence of Callum Willis, Ben Portlock, Captain Ben Ware and Morgan Harris got to grips with the dangerous Dinas forwards and set up a solid platform for the team to play their passing game.

Keeper Ed Smith handled well and also acted as a sweeper whenever necessary. Willis, Perry and Harris were combining well down the right and Dawes and Kavanagh were switching play cleverly to stretch the Dinas defence.

After superb chasing by Tom Smith, a clearance by the Dinas keeper was blasted into an empty net by the onrushing Kavanagh to give Sully a well deserved equaliser just before half time. Buoyed by the goal the coach's half time team talk was easy as the team showed great maturity by motivating each other. Losing was not an option or thought.

Huge belief and desire allowed Sully to start the second half strongly and they began to create chances through the skills and pace of Perry, Harris, Dawes and Jones and the strong running of Smith who was single handedly causing the Dinas defence major problems.

His strength in holding the ball up for willing midfield runners to burst on to was proving a major success for a now rampant Sully. After the Dinas keeper pulled off a number good saves, a fantastic passing move featuring Ware, Portlock and Dawes released the ball to fresh legged George Vale whose accurate cross was volleyed wide by the unlucky Smith.

Just when you wondered whether a goal would come Morgan, Harris and Kavanagh combined to play the ball to Smith who held the ball up again before laying it off to the on-running Luke Dawes who skipped past 2 defenders and the keeper to slot the ball into the net from a tight angle to send the large and vocal Sports support wild with joy.

Not content with a one goal lead, Sully continued to attack as the game went from end to end. Captain Ware showed his class by not only winning last gasp challenges but also running the ball out turning defence into attack superbly.

After Willis, Dyer and Perry released Man of the Match Smith, his mazy run inside the box allowed him the space to pick out Dawes, who conjured up some his usual magic by jinking inside and superbly chipping the ball over the impressive Dinas keeper into the net to make it 3-1 and his second goal of the game.

After another setback, Dinas fought back with good attacking and a few corners but Morgan Harris stood firm with Ware, Josh Ackland and Ed Smith offering able support to with stand some late pressure.

Dinas thought they had actually pulled a goal back after a corner but Vale somehow unbelievably hooked the ball off the line to safety.

After Elliott McAndrew and Will Barber arrived to add more energy, they combined with Dyer to set up an opening which was smashed home by the excellent Connor Kavanagh to give him his second goal of the game and seal a fantastic performance by the team.

The victory was the team's second cup win in two years for a team in only its second season of junior football.

A big thank you to all who turned up to support the boys on the day and to valuable squad member Miles Jones for his enthusiasm and attitude all season.

Well done boys for a fully deserved cup win after overcoming tough draws in every round and the Dinas hoodoo in the final!