BRAINTREE Blue Hornets under-ten boys came away from the Regional Hockey Finals at Harleston as runners-up.

The Braintree team featured Charles Hanley as captian, Flynn Godfrey, Theo McIlvenna, Oli Prideaux, Oscar Walker, Kyle, Freddie Fenton Tun, Charles Fenton Tun and Henry Edwards and battled their way through to the final where only a narrow victory by Blueharts denied them the Eastern title.

It has been quite a season for the under-ten boys, who are Essex champions, Essex League champions, runners-up in the Indoor Hockey 2017 and now Regional runners-up.

Braintree were initially drawn in a tough group with St Neots (the Cambridgeshire champions), Blueharts (the Hertfordshire champions), Ipswich (second in Suffolk) and Norwich City (second in Norfolk).

The first match was against St Neots, with good passing hockey securing a 1-0 win with a goal from McIlvenna from a short corner, before a competitive game against Blueharts ended at 0-0.

An own goal and a strike from Godfrey then sealed a 2-0 win against Norwich City and a 2-0 win against Ipswich meant Braintree took their place in the semi-finals against Norwich Dragons.

A big and powerful Dragons side didn't overawe the Essex youngsters, who played their best hockey of the day in taking another 2-0 victory as Fenton Tun and McIlvenna were on target to set up a final showdown against Blueharts.

The final proved to be another tough match against a well-organised Blueharts team, who managed to edge it with a 1-0 win to claim the title.

Although Braintree were disappointed not to win the final, it was an amazing achievement by the team, particularly as they were missing three regular team members - Ollie Knight, Leo Murray and Ben Bushell.