Conifers crowned
8:09am Thursday 27th March 2008
CONIFERS Primary School have been crowned South Dorset 11-a-side champions for the first time after beating joint-holders Dorchester Middle School 2-1 in the final.
The newly formed school beat Bincombe Valley Primary 5-1 (home), Wyke Regis Junior 3-2 (home) and St George's Primary 3-2 (away) en route to the final at Dorchester Middle.
The county town side meanwhile, went into the final on the back of wins against Southill Primary 4-3 (home), St Osmund's Middle 4-0 (home) and St Mary's Middle, Puddletown 4-3 (away).
The final, refereed by Portland United's Paul Lambert, saw the home team on the attack from the very first whistle.
And they were rewarded with an early lead after what appeared to be a rather tame looking shot, unexpectedly bouncing over George Watt in goal.
This spurred the Conifers on to an all out attack, which finally paid off with a penalty after a handball in the area.
Robert Lock stepped up only to see the Dorchester keeper guess right and save the spot kick.
Several minutes later, the right-winger made up for his earlier miss by smashing the ball into the net from just inside the area after a poor clearance from the home team.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first with Conifers dominating much of the play and Dorchester Middle counter attacking whenever the ball was cleared from their half.
But it was Lock who broke the deadlock, scoring his second goal of the match after an inviting pass from Harry James.
With only minutes remaining, Conifers' Liam Hoole was sent clean through, only to see his shot from an acute angle go agonisingly wide of the left-hand post.
Conifers' teacher Don Whistance said: "The boys have worked extremely hard this season and have been rewarded with both the seven-a-side and the 11-a-side South Dorset Championship trophies."