The Herts still beating (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

The Herts still beating

Golden Eagles player tries to disposess a Queensfield opponent Ref: 99128-4HERTS made it a hat-trick of wins at the annual Swindon Asians Festival of Football. They needed penalties to beat Golden Eagles after a goalless final at King Edward's Place, Wanborough.

The shootout success sealed their third win at the event in recent years.

Organiser Dev Ram said: "This is the third time Herts have won the Festival of Football but Golden Eagles were very lucky to miss out in their first visit to Swindon.

"I have to thank the officials Rod Wirdnam, Chris Uzzell, Kevin Lambert, Steve Daglish, Norman Wood, Michael Day, Trevor Cullen. They did an excellent job again on what was a very hot day.

"We would also like to thank all the teams that attended on what was a very good day yet again."

Herts did not concede a single goal on the way to picking up the trophy again.

The eventual winners cruised through their group with three wins out of three, scoring 12 times in the process.

Golden Eagles weren't the obvious closest challengers, stumbling through their pool by virtue of goal difference in second place.

Sporting Coventry looked more likely to pose a threat with a 100 per cent record in group 4.

They followed that by cruising past MKD 4-0 in the quarter-finals but they could not crack the Eagles, who held out for a 0-0 draw in the semis and went through to the showpiece with a 5-4 win on penalties.

But their luck ran out in the final as Herts demonstrated their composure from the spot to triumph 7-6 after thumping Green Baize and Smethwick in the knockout rounds.