Kent Merit Under-13 Boys’ Cup Final: Unique 1 Kings Hill 1 (Unique won 6-5 on pens)

Penalties were needed to separate Unique and Kings Hill after an excellent Kent Merit Under-13 Boys’ Cup Final on Sunday at Sheppey’s Holm Park.

Unique’s joint-managers Harry Harding and Beckham Hulks said: “We’re delighted. We don’t think we played very well but we found a way to win the game.

“When our last spot-kick rolled over the line we thought our name might have been on the cup.

“We prepared for penalties as well and did a lot of work on them.

“Credit to Kings Hill as well, they were a lot better than we thought they were going to be.

“We struggled with recruitment in the summer which was unlike us as a club and we only had 10 players signed on the eve of the season.

“We’ve been building and have now had a squad from around October onwards where we’ve only lost two games in about 15, so hopefully we can kick on again next year after winning this.”

Unique started brightly as Max Purcell drove into the penalty area and forced a brilliant one-handed save from Kings Hill keeper Isaac Simmons before Lemar Hill headed the rebound agonisingly wide.

Kings Hill took the lead on 28 minutes when a long free-kick found Reggie Buliyani. His shot was saved by keeper Oscar Hellyer but Gabriel Pavelov reacted quickest to turn home the loose ball.

With his confidence up, Pavelov led the line well and was a growing influence as he twice shot wide from long range before the break.

In the second half, Harry Ward shot wide after a good advantage played by the referee when Pavelov was fouled in the build-up.

At the other end, Kings Hill centre-backs Costya Adrianovs and Thomas Allodi did well to keep Hill relatively quiet.

But their resistance was broken on 52 minutes when skipper Bailey Williams headed in at the far post with his