Youth football round up: Roffey U18s and Horsham U16s finish as runners-up

In a nail-biting final match of the season, Chris Nicholson put Roffey ahead. Selsey never gave up but Nicholson added a further two goals to complete a hat-trick, while Harrison Page earned and scored a penalty and Dav Campanaro rounded off the scoring.

It was another great team performance with Ben Meadows, Ollie Rivers, Dav Campanaro and Chris Nicholson standing out, though man of the match went to Nicholson for another hat-trick which made it 30 goals for the season.

Captain Tom Barns said: “It was a great way to finish off an unbelievable season.”

Horsham Under-16s scored three goals in the last six minutes to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 victory over Predators Tigers and secure the runners-up spot in the Arun & Chichester A League.

The young Hornets responded well to going behind when Liam Ruz drilled home from close range to make it 1-1.

But from there Tigers scored either side of the break to lead 3-1.

It looked like Horsham’s chances of finishing second had gone, but with six minutes left Harry Lee found Alex Moore who drilled the ball home and two minutes later the scores were level when Glenn Johnson cut inside and riffled in an unstoppable strike for 3-3.

And in the final minute Horsham found a dramatic winner when Moore picked up the ball midway into the Predator’s half and ran ‘Aguero’ style diagonally across the penalty area before driving the ball low into the bottom corner to secure the victory.

The Thursday before the side again needed a late strike to earn a 3-2 win over Chichester City Youth Green. Goals from Johnson and Will Kerr saw Horsham come from behind before man of the match Andrew Roberts netted the winner.

Broadbridge Heath Under-12s are the champions of the HDYFL Division C league, having done brilliantly to win 14 of their 16 games.

Roffey Robins U12s finished off their season with a tour in North Devon, where they reached the finals and only missed out on penalties.

Playing against teams from Cardiff, Kingson, Birmingham, Bristol and Cornwall, Roffey did the Horsham District League proud by making the final, where they played Cardiff’s A League District winners AFC Rumney, a team they had beaten 2-0 the previous day. This time the game finished 1-1 and Roffey lost on penalties, but were awarded their runners-up trophy by ex professional John Hartson.