West Ham United asked schools from the East London Boroughs and surrounding Essex areas, to enter their Premier League Primary Stars Tournament.
Over 80 schools entered which were held across 4 separate venues for the qualifying rounds. The top 20 schools progressed to the regional finals, which was held at5 the West Ham UTD academy in Newham.
Valence Primary qualified top of their group in the first round, to secure a place at these finals. Valence was drawn in group B with teams from, Clockhouse school, Cathederal school, Kensington school and Winston way school. The first game saw Valence play Cathederal, with outstanding football, Valence cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win. Straight after Valence played again, against Kensington, with a hard fort 1-0 victory. Resting for 2 games, Valence the played Winston Way school, dominating throughout. With one touch football and lethal finishing, Valence secured a comfortable victory of 3 goals to 0. The last game of group B was crucial for both Valence and their opponents, Clockhouse. The winners of this game would qualify for the quarterfinals, which Valence kept their 100% record by winning 1-0 and secured their place.
The quarterfinals saw Valence drawn against local rivals Grafton school. Valence kept control of the game from start to finish, adding a spectacular goal to finish off Graftons hopes of reaching the semis. The semi-finals put Valence against Essex team Ingatestone. After a hard-fought 10 minutes, Valence produced an outstanding move, which was headed into Ingatestones goal for a 1-0 win, seeing Valence through to the finals.
The final saw Valence pitted against East London side Churchfields. After end-to-end football for 9 minutes, Churchfields scored a scrambled goal behind Valences goalkeeper. Valence, whilst pushing for an equaliser, left a gap in their defence, which enabled Churchfields to score a second. With only 2 minutes to go, Valence pushed and battled hard, but couldn’t reduce the deficite.
Churchfields won the tournament, taking a place at the National finals, with Valence accepting a silver medal and proudly representing the borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Well done boys, a great effort.
Valence Squad
Ibrahim, Kaobi, Rio, Emmanuel, Cameron, Oladipo, Kieron and Kasper