Caerphilly Schools Under-11s football team suffered a rollercoaster of emotions on Saturday, April 23, as they reached the semi-final of the Welsh Schools FA Tom Yeoman Festival Finals.
The tournament was held at The Centre for Sporting Excellence at Ystrad Mynach, and welcomed teams from four national area groups, including Pembrokeshire, Flintshire, Wrexham and Cardiff and Vale.
Caerphilly U11s had reached the tournament by progressing from a round-robin group which had included teams from Newport, Torfaen and Rhonnda Cynon Taff earlier in the season.
The boys, who are Risca United academy players from 16 local schools, were drawn against Cardiff, Flintshire and Abernant in their group on the day.
Having dispatched Flintshire 4-2, a loss against Cardiff meant only victory would guarantee them a spot in the semi-final.
A 1-0 win against Abernant saw the boys progress to face Pembroke.
The eight-a-side tournament rules required each semi-final team to field two sides against each other, with the scores from both games aggregated to determine a winner.
While one Caerphilly side secured a 2-0 victory over Pembroke, the other was 2-0 down to their counterparts.
Caerphilly would have progressed regardless, but with the final kick of the game, Pembroke scored a third to make the aggregate score 3-2 in their favour, and knock the youngsters out with no time for a response.
Caerphilly coach Jason Darby said: “It was incredibly dramatic.
“The game which the boys won had finished just a little before the other, so they rushed over to watch their teammates.
“There were only 15 seconds left before one of the lads for Pembroke basically ran through the midfield and scored. It was a wonderful piece of skill, but absolutely heartbreaking for us.”
Swansea went on to win the competition, and Jason believes the tournament was a valuable experience for his team, who are playing county-level football for the first team this season.
He said: “While the way we were knocked out couldn’t have been crueller, it’s a valuable life lesson for the boys.
“We told them to hold their heads up high, and to their credit, after the initial disappointment they understood how well they’d done.”