Shropshire football girls just miss out on Wembley glory
A Shropshire girl's football team narrowly missed out on glory in a national championship played in front of thousands of fans at Wembley Stadium.
Thomas Telford School under-13s, representing Shrewsbury Town, were beaten 1-0 by a team from Dorset's Broadstone Middle School, representing AFC Bournemouth yesterday.
The game was played before the Football League Trophy between Chesterfield and Peterborough, which Peterborough won 3-1 in front of 35,600 fans.
Thomas Telford missed out on the Football League's six-a-side Community Cup due to a half-time strike from Broadstone captain Molly Pike.
A total of 727 schools entered the 2013/14 Girls Cup, now in its eighth season, with more than 5,800 youngsters taking part.
Broadstone Middle School and Thomas Telford School battled through a number of regional tournaments to reach the final.
The Telford girls won three mini-tournaments to get to the final stage.
A spokesman for the Football League said: "The Shrews representatives did create one chance of note just before the break but, after receiving a cross from Emily Wootton, Anna Morphet lost her footing before managing to get a shot away.
"Morphet was at it again early in the second half but her low shot was well saved by Broadstone goalkeeper Kayla Rendell.
"With the game approaching the closing stages, a moment of magic from captain Pike settled the match.
"The youngster picked the ball up in the opposition half, shifted it onto her right foot and, despite having two defenders for company, she managed to fire low across Lydia Simkiss in the Thomas Telford goal, with the ball nestling in the bottom corner.
"It was a memorable goal to complete a memorable day."
