Merit Under-14 Girls Cup final: Petts Wood 3 Welling United 1

Three goals in 11 first-half minutes proved decisive as Petts Wood beat Welling United in the Merit Under-14 Girls Cup final.

An end-to-end start at the Gallagher Stadium suggested the tie could go either way, with both sides looking sharp in attack.

But goals from Fiorella Palomino, player-of-the-match Freya Jackson and Sofia Jex put Petts Wood in charge before a deserved consolation from Isabelle Brooker near the end.

“It was stressful because you just never know how it’s going to go in a cup game,” said Petts Wood manager Anthony Percy.

“But I was confident the girls were going to deliver and I’m happy they did.

“Welling gave us a great battle.

“We did really well in the first half and ultimately put the game to bed but Welling scared us in the second half and made us a little bit worried towards the end.

“We’ve only lost once in the league this season, which was against Lordswood in the first match, and we’ve drawn with Welling, so it felt like we needed to win today.

“We’ve still got three or four league games to go and one of them is against Welling, so we meet again in the next few weeks.

“But this is a cup final and ultimately we managed to be on the right side of the win this time.”

Petts Wood keeper Paloma Morrison was sharply off her line to deny Welling an early opener after Brooker played in Florence Hicks, a tireless runner up front all afternoon.

Erinayo Kalejaiye impressed in midfield for the Wings, strong on the ball and with an eye for a pass.

But Petts Wood got on top and broke the deadlock in the 13th minute after the excellent Jackson’s attempted lob was palmed away for a corner by D’Arcy Billington.

Jackson, impressive on the right of a front three, took the corner and Palomino was alert to finish