Summers-Mee shines as Women’s Under-16s lift PGA Champions Trophy

Eloise Summers-Mee bagged a hat-trick as a fantastic performance from our Women’s Under-16s saw our youngsters claim the Professional Game Academy Champions Trophy with a 6-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Sixways Stadium on Saturday.

Alongside the young forward’s treble on the afternoon, Cairo Eva-Antoine netted a brace alongside Poppy Neill firing her way onto the scoresheet, on a special day for Sabiha Jamal’s young side as we claimed the trophy for the first time at this level.

Summers-Mee got us off to the perfect start as her excellent pressing on the Rovers’ goalkeeper allowed her to tap home on just three minutes before Neill latched on to a poor pass back inside the box, firing home at the near post to put our young Lilywhites in a strong position in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

Summers-Mee extended our advantage on the half-hour mark, forcing the ball home at the front post after Mehak’s cross from the right, and despite Blackburn pulling a goal back with a fantastic strike from the edge of the box, we reinstated our three-goal advantage as Eva-Antoine curled home from outside the left area of the box and into the far corner.

Sophie Jackson had to be alert in the opening stages of the restart, producing a strong save to her right to keep out her fierce effort, before Eva-Antoine grabbed her second of the game after we were awarded a penalty on 55 minutes, with the forward placing her spot-kick into the bottom right corner, building on her sensational goalscoring form across the Under-16s and Under-21s this campaign.

As we entered the closing stages of the contest, Summers-Mee wrapped up her hat-trick as she advanced into the box before slotting her left-footed effort past Blackburn’s shot stopper and, although the opponents netted a consolation goal on the stroke of full time, it was celebrations for our players at Sixways Stadium with Jackson having the honour of lifting the trophy.

"It’s hard to reflect on this game without smiling"

Reflecting on the special day, Under-16s coach Sabiha Jamal said: “It’s hard to reflect on this game without smiling. I was actually speechless after the game and I had to let Sophie lead it as captain, but I’m just so proud of everyone involved, players and staff, we’ve worked so hard throughout this season and it’s so good to see these celebrations at the end, very much deserved.

“We were so focused on the press, our out of possession work rate, these are things we knew would keep us in the game as we’re not short of goals in this team because we’ve got creative, attacking players, so I was delighted with our fast start to the game, scoring two goals in the opening 15 minutes of the game. It was an unbelievable start, we caused our own problems in between, but I think we managed the occasion well and shifted the momentum when we needed.

“I’m just buzzing about it,” Sabiha added. “All the staff and players have been so supportive in my first season with the Club, but I couldn’t have asked for a better group in terms of how they’ve taken on everything. The way we, as staff, enjoy working with this squad, I think it feeds into the players and, ultimately, they’ve the same effect on us, it has been a pleasure working with everyone this season and today's triumph tops it all off.”