Wednesday 2nd May 2012 will stay long in the memories for 14 students, who achieved the first ever County Cup victory for Imberhorne School at U16 level.  The Sussex County Cup, competed for since 1965, has been dominated by many of the Brighton based schools.  It was, therefore, even more satisfying that we were able to beat some very strong schools on our way to this amazing cup triumph. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> We started the game very brightly and dominated the early exchanges, as we were able to play our passing game on an excellent pitch at Lancing FC.  We should have taken the lead as early as the fifth minute when a fine move was almost finished off by Steve Palmer at the far post.  However, we didn’t have to wait long for another chance, as this time Steve Palmer made no mistake as he drilled the ball home into the bottom right hand corner of the net.  This should have been our cue to push on and extend our lead.  However, credit must be given to Uckfield, who responded in fine fashion by testing our goalkeeper with a couple of long range efforts.  One such 20 yard drive led to a corner, which resulted in Uckfield scoring the equaliser.  Our desire was there for all of our brilliant supporters to see as we got back on the front foot and started to stamp our authority back on the game.  Driving the team forward from midfield with some great tackles and defence splitting passes, Danny Pearse and Reece Cloney, gave us the edge going into half time.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite capitalise on our possession and the teams went in at the break 1-1. The message at half time was to keep the ball as much as possible and stretch the opposition.  We did this on numerous occasions, but still couldn’t find the second goal.  Both teams went close and only some important saves from our goalkeeper, Aaron King, kept the scores level.  That meant extra time and the need to fight through the mental and physical fatigue that was clearly setting in.  With 3 minutes to go of added time, Louis Bradford jinked his way through their defence and it looked like we would snatch a last minute winner.  He fainted to strike on his left foot, and then dragged it back onto his right foot and calmly slotted the ball towards the empty net as the keeper was beaten.  Somehow though, the ball shaved the upright and we were in for a nervy penalty shoot-out. Danny Pearse confidently sent the keeper the wrong way for a great start.  They made it 1-1.  Then Matthew Turner smashed home to make it 2-1.  Heroics from Aaron King as he saved their second spot-kick.  Louis made up for his near miss in extra time with a very cool penalty and we were in the driving seat.  They made it 3-2, but Mitch Beeney kept us in front, and that turned out to be the winning moment as Uckfield missed their fourth spot-kick to give Imberhorne a fantastic 4-2 win on penalties.  I was immensely proud of the team on the night and have been throughout the season.  They have all been brilliant and totally deserved to win the county cup.  They are fantastic young people, who behaved like gentleman and played like stars, and I know they made me, the school, and their families very proud. Steve Hill, P.E. Teacher