Year 9 girls set for national football final

An under 14s girls' football team have been on a "fantastic journey" to reach the national schools cup final, their coach has said.

Northampton School's Year 9 team will play Surbiton High School, from south London, at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke on Friday.

The side, based at the school in Moulton, came through eight rounds of matches, including a penalty shootout in the semi-final.

Coach and head of year Callum Lagdon said the girls have had to show "great resilience" to get this far in the tournament.

The English Schools' Football Association (ESFA) Futures Girls Cup was entered by 463 school team from all around England.

A mixture of state and independent schools compete, and Northampton School will be facing a private school side in the final.

The girls from Northampton School have had to overcome two penalty shootouts on their route to the final, including a 3-2 shootout win over St Joseph's RC Academy from South Tyneside in the semi-final.

As well as penalty shootouts, the team have had to battle through "long away days" on what's been a "really fantastic journey", Lagdon explained.

Midfielder Georgia said the experience had been "really good" in what had been their furthest run in the competition.

Team captain Pippa says the weeks leading up to the final have been "pretty intense", with a lot of focus on the width of Stoke's pitch.

"Our team normally drive up the wing so it's a good thing that [the pitch] is wider."

The final kicks off at 11.30 BST on Friday.

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