Henry Cort defeat Admiral Lord Nelson to win Hampshire FA schools cup

Goalkeeper Steward was voted man of the match as Cort defeated Portsmouth’s Admiral Lord Nelson 2-1 in a close final between two under-16 teams at Fareham Town’s Cams Alders ground on Thursday.

Central midfielder Simpson, the Cort captain, had put his team into an early lead with Lord Nelson levelling midway through the first half.

Cort restored their lead shortly after the restart, through striker Ethan Gee, and Steward pulled off a series of saves thereafter.

Stewart and Simpson were recently told they had been awarded a two-year academy contract at Fratton Park.

Cort boss Jason Plomer said: ‘To get two boys from the same year at the same school is a big deal for us, you don’t really hear of that too often.’

Plomer has managed the team since they were year 7s, and in every season they have won their Fareham & Gosport district age group championship.

In 2018/19, when the team were under-14s, they progressed to the quarter-finals of the national schools cup.

In the previous two Hampshire Cup seasons, Cort had been beaten by the eventual winners - Mayfield (Portsmouth) and John Hanson (Andover).

Henry Cort squad (v Admiral Lord Nelson): Toby Steward (GK), Harry Cook, Ben Costley, Joe Davies, Ben Evans, Ethan Gee, Toby Hancock, Logan Hart, Oliver O’Mahony, Logan Roseby, Dylan Sibley, Callum Simmonds, Elliott Simpson (captain), Joe Simpson, Josh Carpenter.