Saturday, 28th May 2022 also yet another team playing in a Tournament. The famous Play on The Pitch, hosted at West Bromwich Albion FC stadium; The Hawthorns.

Mark Whitehouse took his team, again playing in the season 21-22 age group of U13’s, to find the sun shining down on them all.

The Manager, Coach and players were all given a guided tour and a chance for photos around the dressing rooms to then walk out on the famous pitch with their team name and player names being announced… Goosebumps.

With 8 teams competing in 2 groups from all over the UK, Rovers were drawn playing:

• Bentilee Trojans
• Penlan Juniors Yellows
• Ross Juniors Blues

The Rovers results in their group were as follows:

Bromsgrove Rovers AFC 0 – 0 Penlan Juniors Yellows
Ross Juniors Blues 0 – 1 Bromsgrove Rovers AFC
Bentilee Trojans 0 – 0 Bromsgrove Rovers AFC

This meant Rovers were joint top with exactly the same goal difference and therefore as the rules state, a mini penalty shootout consisting of 3 spotkicks each should decide the team to progress.

With Rovers converting 2 and Jed Fairhurst saving 2 between the sticks Rovers won 2-1 and progressed to the semi-final, with zero goals conceded.

In the semi-final, Rovers were drawn against Parkes Hall, another team who had not conceded in the group stage but scored 5 goals.

It was a great contest but both teams cancelled eachother out seeing the game end 0-0.
Penalties…

Jed Fairhurst was again an unsung hero between the sticks saving a spotkick helping his team win 4-3 and into the final!!

Rovers were playing Penlan Juniors Blues from Swansea, South Wales who had a free scoring team in the initial group stage hammering 6 goals in but lost to Rovers semi-final opponents.

After another tough encounter, neither team could find a winning goal meaning the game had to be decided by penalties yet again.

Unfortunately The Rovers luck just ran out, despite Jed yet again saving a spotkick it just wasn’t to be. Final score: Penlan Juniors Blues* 0 – 0 Bromsgrove Rovers AFC
* Penlan won 2-1 on penalties

Overall, a fantastic experience for everyone involved and still a highly commendable team performance with another piece of silverware coming to Bromsgrove Rovers AFC.