In the final of the Aston Cup we took on Broadway and won! We then went to Bodymoor Heath, Aston Villa’s training ground, to play in the Super Cup against Arthur Terry School. It was an even match played in a good spirit that saw end to end football. Handsworth GS pressed hard in the first ten minutes which resulted in a headed goal being scored by Zakir Islam from a corner. There were a number of chances in the first half, a shot dragged past the post and, from the six yard box, a shot went over the bar. Once Arthur Terry settled down they started to see more of the ball which resulted in a counter attacking play down the left side with the ball slotted into the bottom right hand corner. After half time the game was very open and both teams attacked relentlessly. Handsworth GS went ahead again from a headed goal from a corner scored by Yaseen Ahmed. Arthur Terry responded a few minutes later with an equaliser. At this stage both teams were getting tired and large gaps were appearing on the pitch. Yet again Handsworth GS took the lead from a solo run by Mohit Naphray, Man of the Match for HGS, who passed it to Abdul Kazmi who tapped it into the goal. With ten minutes to go tiredness kicked in, players had cramp and larger gaps appeared. Arthur Terry equalised with five minutes to go. Extra time resulted in a few chances for both teams but none were able to capitalise. The match was decided upon penalties with Arthur Terry coming out on top. A good quality cup final! ¡MADRID MÁGICO! I play football for a Sunday League Team, BYSA. Last December eighteen players and twelve coaches flew to Madrid and the home of Spanish Football, Real Madrid. The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was really impressive, especially when we stood pitch-side, imagining the atmosphere and the players running out to the cheers of the crowd - all 81,044 of them! We saw the players’ assigned seats in the changing room and had a training session with Spanish coaches. ¡Gol! The match we played against a local side was tough; they are undefeated in the league, so we were pleased to score two goals against them, even though the final score was 7:2. During our four day stay we had some great food and also visited the capital’s second team, Atlético Madrid. My only disappointment was not seeing my idol, Lionel Messi. He plays for arch-rivals, Barcelona! Zakir Islam 9G TINY PIX FROM WORD FILE U14 ASTON CUP AND LEAGUE WINNERS 2019 32