IN the battle for the Ben Lacey Shield, St Albans City Youth fielded two Under 9s teams in Group A. The B squad beat Harvesters East 2-0 before drawing 0-0 with the City Youth C squad and then beating Tring Tornados 2-0. In their fourth match, the B squad

IN the battle for the Ben Lacey Shield, St Albans City Youth fielded two Under 9s teams in Group A. The B squad beat Harvesters East 2-0 before drawing 0-0 with the City Youth C squad and then beating Tring Tornados 2-0. In their fourth match, the B squad lost 1-0 to John Warner Youth before defeating Wheathampstead Tigers 5-1. Harry Hawks scored twice, Liam Murphy netted two and Ben Patterson and Robbie PennThomas also each scored a brace. Harry Lewis was the other score for the B squad.

The C squad kicked off with a dramatic 4-3 defeat to Wheathampstead Tigers. In their other games, the C squad lost to John Warner and Tring Tornados before finishing with a 1-0 win against Harvesters East. Ryan Ladyman and Nicholas Grossi each netted two goals in the Group with Nicholas Wilcox and Luke Winks scoring one each. St Albans City B finished second with 10 points.

In Group B, the A team stormed to victory in all five of their games giving them 15 points, scoring 11 goals and conceding none. The squad won four matches 2-0 and recorded a 3-0 win against Harpenden Colts in their final match. Jake Anthony scored four goals and the other goals were scored by Ryan Lubbock (two), Bryn Williams (two), Linden Gabriel (two) and Tommy Goldstone with a fine header.

Harpenden Colts won Group C, with 15 points, scoring 20 goals and conceding none. The Under 9s D lost three matches and drew two, with the highlight being a 2-2 draw with Tring Tornados. Kai Sawyerr and Jordan Cotter netted.

In Group D, the City Youth E team won four matches and lost one which crucially meant they finished second to Harvesters North on goal difference. Charlie Lunniss scored the goal to beat Harvesters 1-0 and netted twice as the E team went on to sink Garston Boys 3-2. William Mattin also scored. Charlie Lunniss and Luke Houghton netted the goals as E squad defeated Headstone Manor and London Colney Colts both 1-0 before the side suffered their crucial 1-0 defeat to Wheathampstead Pumas when a draw would have seen them through.

In the first semi final, John Warner beat the Under 9s A 3-2 on penalties. Jacob Grisenthwaite and Bryn Williams scored their spot kicks. In the other semi final, Harvesters North beat Harpenden Colts 4-3 on penalties. Joe Regan, Aaron Jacobs, Matt Potter and John Nott scored their spot kicks.

In the final, Harry Dickins put John Warner 1-0 up before Charlie 'Lucky' Goodchild hammered in a spectacular equaliser to take the match to extra time. Joe Regan then settled the contest for Harvesters North, drilling home his eighth goal of the tournament.

Paul Spink presented the prizes to the teams. Paul, aged 21, who represents the St Albans City Youth FC Disability squad was recently called up to the Britain Special Olympic squad and was featured in the Herts Advertiser on Thursday, May 29.