We were drawn into Group C and after finishing 3rd out of 6, we thought the tournament was over for us by 3:30pm.

After packing up our things, we were then told that we had scraped through to the knockout stages due to our points total being the best out of all the 3rd placed teams in the other groups. However, we would have to play Herne, who had comfortably won their group. 

A close fought match with Herne ended 1-1 and it was straight to penalties. Darcey, was the hero, saving the sudden death penalty to see us through to the semi-final to play against Solent, who were also the comfortable winners of their group. 

We absolutely dominated the game against Solent, peppering the goalkeeper with shot after shot. I don’t actually remember Darcey having to make a save. Alas, after 10 minutes it was 0-0 and we had another shootout. This time, luck was not on our side. 

All in all, a thoroughly entertaining afternoon full of highs and lows. Within the space of an hour we had packed our stuff up, ready to leave to then being one kick away from qualifying for a national competition and the chance to play at Wembley. 

They did brilliantly and it was lovely to see the team rally together after the disappointment of a penalty shootout loss.

Well done, Southbourne!