The players lined up on the pitch at the beginning of the match but sadly there was no-one famous to meet them today as Prince Charles was busy meeting homeless puppies at a local rescue centre. At least the teams got a good look at the giant trophy as they stood for their pre-match photo. The kit man for Newcastle was also disciplined just before kick off, as when both teams walked out they realised that the kits looked quite similar from a distance. The poor fans in row Z had no idea what was going on. Newcastle, who were assigned the away dressing room, should have worn their away strip! After that drama, on with the game.
Newcastle took a surprise lead in the first half against the run of play. A breakaway saw them go three players against two and they took the opportunity to score. 1-0 to Newcastle
Straight after half-time, West Ham were in command and a lucky deflection saw them equalise within a few minutes. Thank goodness VAR was not in use today as the West Ham strikers big toe looked slightly offside, although the West Ham fans claimed he had trimmed it before the game, so the goal was allowed stand! 1-1
The game could have gone either way at this point. Newcastle were next to find a way through as their striker scored a fantastic goal from outside of the area as he lobbed the last defender, who appeared to be busy looking for his mum in the crowd. 2-1 to Newcastle.
Newcastle were counting down the seconds to the end of the game to win their first Cup Final, but in the dying seconds the ball ran to a West Ham forward. With the final kick of the game, West Ham poked it around the keeper to make it 2 -2. The crowd went wild as if the ball had not gone into the goal, Newcastle would have been declared the winners. The Newcastle players were stunned that the game was not over.
Extra Time
Both teams went for the win in extra time and it was only thanks to both goalkeepers that the score remained level. Firstly, the Newcastle keeper made a great save to push the ball out to the side line. With only a few minutes remaining, an opening was found by Newcastle and it was only down to the brilliance of the West Ham keeper that the ball stayed out. The ball cannoned off a defender and the keeper had to get back to his feet and push the spinning ball away. The score remained 2-2.
Penalties
For the first time, the League Cup would be decided by penalties. After the coin toss, Newcastle would go first. Newcastle scored first and West Ham missed their penalty, meaning Newcastle took the early advantage 1-0. Newcastle then missed their second and West Ham were able to equalise. It was honours even, until Newcastle stumbled and missed their 4th. West Ham scored to make it 3-2. Newcastle needed to score their 5th, which they did to make it 3-3 with one penalty left. West Ham stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to make it 4-3 after penalties and win the cup.
The results for all of Year 5’s League Cup games can be found here.