UNDER-18

BRAINTREE TOWN YOUTH 8

GREAT BENTLEY 1

Colchester Youth League Under-18 Cup final

BRAINTREE Town Youth's under-18s Blues ended 13 years of playing alongside each other by lifting the Colchester and District Youth League Cup for the first time.

It was a glorious evening at Wivenhoe Town as Braintree played their last game together under their manager Andy Jones, who started coaching the team in 2003.

Four players from that 2003 team were still playing in the side and Braintree made an electric start when Tyler Wells got on the end of a flick from Bailey Jones to go ahead in the first 90 seconds.

Wells then cut the ball back for Lewis Sonnex to head home for the second within five minutes and a third came in the eighth minute when the Wells, Jones and Sonnex linked up for the goal of the match.

Jones slotted the ball past two defenders for Sonnex to square across the six-yad box for Wells to tap home.

While Bentley were shell-shocked, they worked hard to get into the game but Braintree had a spark about them and the next goal came from a corner headed home by Ciaran Smith.

Further goals were also added by Jack Murphy and James Cook to produce a 6-0 lead at the break.

The second half could quite match the first, but Wells completed a cup final hat-trick and Sam Smith scored an eighth goal to wrap up a great night for the team and the club.