Central Girls dig deep to win Coalfields Cup

The Coalfields Regeneration Cup is an annual small sided football tournament which brings together sides from England and Wales to compete for the UK crown.

The tournament took place at Kelty Hearts’ New Central Park.

A group stage format saw the top two sides from the group of six sides qualify for the final.

As it turned out the final group match took place between the two Scottish sides, both of whom were already through to the final after undefeated campaigns.

Boroughmuir were to comfortably defeat Central 5-2 in the dead rubber and finish on top of the group.

The final took place shortly after and a resurgent Central were to capture their earlier form and run out 3-1 winners to lift the Coalfields Cup 2018.

Central and Boroughmuir were worthy finalists and, although B’muir Thistle drew one of their qualifying group matches, both sides were a class apart from our opponents.

Boroughmuir’s defeat of Central in the group stages made them cup favourites and previously B’muir had lifted the Scottish title after a 3-1 win against Central at Alloa FC earlier in the year.

However, it was Central who were to take the initiative and after going into the lead the girls never looked back, going on to become deserved tournament winners.

A spokesperson for Central said: “Something clicked into place for us in the final and that is to great credit to the Central girls.

“They were simply unstoppable and, typical of them, they were always determined to lift the cup.

“Although every player was fantastic for our team, Kate Nicholson lifted the Player of the Tournament trophy we are all especially proud of her.”