There were goals aplenty and some excellent football to boot. The first game to kick off was Coulby Newham Under 15s against Kader Under 15s and it was Coulby, who opened the scoring with a stunning free kick to make it 1-0. The game was all but wrapped up soon after at 3-0, but Kader weren’t down and out just yet as a dogged comeback made it 3-2 at half-time. The second half was much tighter and it was Coulby Newham who got the breakthrough to wrap the game up and take the Under 15s trophy 4-2.
While Coulby Newham were edging out Kader, the Under 11s final had parents and fans on their toes with an end to end match, that could have gone either way. Marton Juniors ran out 5-4 victors, but Boro Rangers put up a worthy fight right until the death.
It was Boro Rangers who thought they had taken the lead after a few minutes when it was turned in by number 11, but the assistant referee had flagged for offside. Marton, one of the most recognised junior clubs in the North Riding, producing players such as Jonathan Woodgate and Stewart Downing, then turned on the style to take a three goal lead and stamp their authority on the cup final. Boro were their own worst enemy for the first goal, as the goalkeeper played a poor kick to the Marton winger, who dribbled into the area, rounded the keeper and played in Reece Lancaster. Reece was involved in the second as Marton broke through the Boro Rangers defence and played in Lewis ‘Junior’ Scoble who slotted into an empty net. He doubled his tally shortly after as he was played through behind the defence and he calmly finished into the bottom corner and gave Marton a hold on the trophy. A goal each before half-time meant it was an uphill struggle for Boro Rangers to overcome Marton. However, two quick fire goals just after the break gave Boro hope and made for a tense finale and they looked like they could go on to win.
They didn’t quite snatch the equaliser, when Marton, who had finally eased a bit of pressure, got lucky. A high lofted ball from Jamie Blythe fell just under the crossbar in fortunate fashion and restored their two goal cushion with ten minutes remaining. Boro started to press deep into their opponents’ half looking to get back into the game but could have lost it as Junior broke through on the counter attack. Fortunately for Boro he tried a lob over the onrushing goalkeeper, but it fell just wide of the post. Rangers then got back into the game as they battled through the Marton defence. At 5-4 it could have gone either way and both teams had chances but it stayed at 5-4 and Marton Juniors won the Under 11s, adding to their Under 13s win earlier in the season.
The final two games of the day featured two Redcar Town teams in the Under 12s and 15s, playing Brotton Juniors and TIBS Juniors respectively. The Under 12s finished 3-0 to Redcar Town. Redcar Town eased to a 3-0 victory, defending their title in the Cup final against Brotton Juniors. It started slowly and Brotton looked the more promising of the two teams having more of the early posession. It was Redcar Town, however, who took the lead before half time to take a 1-0 margin into the break. Shortly after the restart, Redcar doubled their advantage with a freekick fired in from distance by Kyran Clark. The game was fairly comfortable at 2-0, and with 6 minutes remaining they confirmed the victory to end the game 3-0 winners.
Meanwhile, TIBS, who finished third behind Marton and Redcar Town in the TJFA Division 1, won the most entertaining final of the day. 1-1 at half time and 2-2 at full time, with TIBS taking the lead both times left them feeling somewhat downhearted at not having the victory sewn up when it could have been. Lewis Sirrell, with 24 league goals already, scored both his team’s goals, but it was not enough. Extra-time loomed large and it was extra time when the match really got going. Less than a minute in and Redcar Town had taken an unlikely lead for the first time in the match, but they couldn’t hold on and literally seconds later Jon Burton levelled the terms. The action didn’t let up and Redcar Town once again took the lead before Lewis Sirrell completed his hat trick with a left footed volley. No less than four minutes had passed in extra time and the scores were doubled! It was not over, although the next goal didn’t arrive for around six minutes, when Matty Waters, playing in memory of his late brother, scored his first goal of the final to give TIBS the advantage. Lewis Sirrell all but wrapped the game up with his fourth of the game, just before half time in extra time. 6-4 was the score with 15 minutes remaining, and just as TIBS thought they had it in the bag, Redcar Town clawed their way back into the tie. At 6-5, TIBS’s big hitters were brought back on to avoid a last gasp push from Redcar and Matty Waters grabbed his second of the day, which turned out to be the winning goal. Redcar pressed on, but could only muster one more goal in this 13 goal thriller to make the final score 7-6 to TIBS.
North Riding County FA Junior Cup winners 2007/2008
Under 11s – Marton Juniors FC
Under 12s – Redcar Town Juniors FC
Under 13s – Marton Juniors FC
Under 14s – TIBS Juniors FC
Under 15s – Coulby Newham Juniors FC
Under 16s – Marske United Juniors FC
Under 17s – North Ormesby Juniors FC