BROMSGROVE Sporting Colts under 13s reached April's Junior Premier League National Cup semi-finals by defeating Coventry City’s development side Sky Blues 3-1.
The Midlands final was moved to a freezing Woodfield Academy, Redditch, due to the weather but, despite the change, Sporting once again showed their cup pedigree with a fantastic performance to achieve a comfortable victory thanks to Miki Sikora's hat-trick.
This was the fourth team from a higher JPL division that Sporting had defeated after seeing off Kidderminster Harriers 2-0, Solihull Academy 3-2 and Kings Lynn 3-2 following a seven-hour round trip.
Manager and former Sporting player Chris Morrison said: "It’s an incredible effort from the team to get this far and it’s purely down to their dedication at training and commitment to each other on the pitch.
"We’re excited to not only see how the cup run goes but our focus is also on finishing as champions in our league this season too. Full credit to the lads.’’
Bromsgrove dominated for large periods against Sky Blues and opened the scoring in the first half when a smart interchange on the edge of the box enabled Sikora to break free and finish smartly under the oncoming keeper.
Sporting had further chances to extend their lead but Sky Blues grew into the game and, despite valiant defending, an inswinging corner broke free to the edge of the box and was duly converted.
Sky Blues pushed for a second but a counter-attack saw Sporting force a corner and Sikora was on hand to finish at the far post to re-establish the lead.
Sporting were down to 10 men towards the end but after a frantic few minutes of defending a fast counter saw Sikora show composure to lob the keeper from 20 yards out.
After being crowned the best team in the Midlands the focus now is on the national semis against a team from Yorkshire or Lancashire with a final against Dartford awaiting the winners.
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