A brace from Liam Battrum and a goal from Mason Demuth were enough for Bowers & Pitsea to win the Essex Cordell Under 13s Cup.

Both sides contributed to an energetic and frantic opening 15 minutes, but it wasn’t until the 16^th minute that the game saw the first real sighting of goal, when Porter found himself in on goal, but he could only find the side netting with his shot.

Canvey fired back with a chance of their own almost immediately, as the game sparked into life. After some really nice interplay, Tommy Llyod was played in towards goal, but he saw his shot palmed wide by Bowers ‘keeper King.

A couple of minutes later, Bowers & Pitsea took the lead. Battrum was on hand to fire in a rebound after Canvey ‘keeper Pacey had made a good save down to his left. Eight minutes later, a freekick from just outside the edge of the box gave Canvey a chance to equalise. Luke Kelly stepped up, but he couldn’t quite keep his effort on target.

As we neared the half time whistle, Bowers and Battrum doubled their tally. The ball fell to Battrum just outside the box and he controlled well, took aim and fired an unstoppable shot into the top left hand corner, taking us into the break with Bowers two to the good.

In the second half, Canvey ‘keeper Pacey was on hand to make two big saves to keep his team in the game. First, he made himself big and blocked a shot from Porter, who had run through on goal. He then saved well with his feet, after Bowers had played their way through and Adams was left with a shot on goal inside the box.

With just nine minutes left, Bowers made it three. Demuth collected the ball just outside the box on the right, jinked inside before cutting back and finishing well into the bottom corner. Despite Canvey’s best efforts, they couldn’t find a way back into the game and shortly after the referee blew the full time whistle, crowning Bowers & Pitsea the Essex Cordell Under 13s Cup Champions!

Bowers & Pitsea Squad: Louie King, Roman Boyce, William Ovenden, Lennie Nicholson, Rhys Ballam, Riley Barry, Jake Adams, Oliver Spence, Roman Bradbury, Oliver Mackay, Mason Demuth (61’), George Fletcher Liam Battrum (19’, 33’), Hugo Adams, Jay Lush, Ed Porter

Canvey Island Squad: Ben Pacey, Kealan Purcell, Ronnie Gunyon, Lewis Dowdeswell, Tommy Lloyd, Oliver Williams, Marco Protic, Ollie Madden, Ethan Wood, Harrison Poole, Luke Kelly, Harry Egleton, Stanley Badland, Charlie Bennett, Owen Ostermeyer, Logan Coull

Referee: Kieran Williams

Assistant Referees: Maxwell Young and Tyler Czapla

Fourth Official: Adam Palmer

Attendance: 240