Milford on Sea Primary School’s Jets team win county netball final held at Southampton Sports Centre

MILFORD on Sea Primary School capped an excellent season with their Jets side winning the county netball after making their third final in a row.

The county finals, held at Southampton Sports Centre, consisted of 25 teams from schools across Hampshire, all of whom had already competed at qualifying events to earn their place at the prestigious event.

The day was split into two tournaments, with the first placed qualifiers battling it out and the second and third placed qualifiers competing for the plate.

In the cup, the Jets opened their bid to be county champions with five emphatic pool matches, winning them all and scoring a combined total of 74 goals whilst conceding only five.

They then moved into the semi-final against a strong Knightwood team, but they kept the pressure up and stormed ahead in the second half, winning 9-2.

That gave the Milford team a place in the Hampshire finals for the third year in a row, this time against a strong team from Awbridge Primary School, who tested every ounce of the Jets’ skills and nerves.

Milford went into the break with a slim one-goal lead, but Awbridge came out firing in the second half and edged ahead 5-4.

However, the Milford Jets did what they have excelled at all year – they dug even deeper and played some outstanding and courageous netball to edge ahead and win 8-6.

In the plate, the Spitfires started tentatively, losing their first match 7-5, despite an excellent fight back in the second half.

Their nerves then seemed to settle, as they went on to win their next four matches and finish second in their pool.

They put up a fantastic fight in the semi-finals against a well-trained Durlston Court School, but Durlston pulled away and emerged 9-5 winners.

The Spitfires then went into the third and fourth place play-off against Greenmount.

Despite a heroic effort, they finished in a credible fourth place, a superb achievement for a young team consisting of three year four boys, two year five girls and two year six girls.

The teams are coached by Carolyn Brown, who thanked Carol Barber, Abi Darbyshire, Pippa Tate, Bea Nineham, Anne Hurcombe, and countless parents for their help over the season.