Pembrokeshire County Schools FA have just finished a very successful season culminating with the Under 11’s side becoming joint Welsh Champions with Cardiff and Vale Schools.
This year the County Schools have run sides from under 8 to under 13’s plus an under 15’s side. This means over 150 Pembrokeshire boys and girls have represented their county.
The under 8’s, under 9’ and under 10’s played in festival organised by the Welsh Schools FA playing against County Schools sides from Cardiff, Swansea, Carmarthen and Bridgend.
The players competed well against these larger counties show the strength and depth of talent in Pembrokeshire.
The under 11’s Tom Yeoman’s side had a fantastic season. This very talented group of players deserved their place in the finals are some excellent displays of football against Afan Nedd, Swansea, Carmarthen and Aberystwyth. In the finals they beat very strong Flint and RCT sides to meet Bangor in the semi-finals. This was a one sided affair leading to Pembs getting to the finals for the second year running. The final was a close run game with Pembs having chances to win, but Cardiff defended well. A draw was a fair result with both sides declared Welsh Champions.
The under 12’s, under 13’s and u15’s played in their respective league age groups in the Welsh Schools Inter Association Cup Competition. These matches involved playing against some very strong sides, some consisting of Swansea City, Cardiff City and Bristol Rovers Academy players, who are released by their professional clubs for schools matches. The commitment by the Pembrokeshire County Schools players and parents to travel to places like Newport and Cardiff for midweek matches was commendable. These teams had the opportunities to play on some of the best pitches in Wales.
These games were a learning curve for the Pembs players and with Premier League Scouts watching all matches anyone who has aspirations to be a professional players had the opportunity to showcase their skills.