Valence Primary School got the opportunity to represented Dagenham & Redbridge in the National League Cup Regional Finals at Woking football club on Wednesday 22nd of March.
Nine teams were competing and every team had to play each other in a round robin format before the top 4 teams played semi-finals then a final to decide who would go on to play the Finals at Wembley.
The team played some fantastic football scoring 15 goals and only conceding 1 thanks to goal keeper Charlie Monkhouse being the most outstanding player of the tournament. His skills were so exceptional, that a visiting coach from Arsenal invited him to a training session with the youth team.
Group stage results:
Dagenham/Valence 2 v 0 Boreham Wood
Dagenham/Valence 0 v 0 Braintree
Dagenham/Valence 3 v 0 Sutton United
Dagenham/Valence 2 v 1 Aldershot
Dagenham/Valence 3 v 0 Hemel Hempstead
Dagenham/Valence 1 v 0 Woking
Dagenham/Valence 0 v 0 Dartford
Dagenham/Valence 4 v 0 Maidstone
Semi final result:
Dagenham/Valence 2 v 0 Sutton United
Our boys made it through to the final against Braintree, who had come with a large coaching staff, and huge parent support. In the first 30 seconds Dagenham/Valence went down a goal. From the restart Dagenham/Valence pushed straight up to Braintree's half and shot 7 times on target, but a goal just wouldn't come. Braintree then scored twice more to win the Regional Finals and qualify for the National Finals at Wembley. Congratulations to Braintree.
It was an exceptional tournament with the quality of football really high, well done to our team who put on a fantastic performance.
The Dagenham/Valence Squad
Kaobi Efobi
Effayo Bassy
Jaqwanne Williams
Cameron Mckenzi
Charlie Rich
Charlie Monkhouse
Uchenna Efobi
Tunmise Adetona
Ibrahim Bangurah