AFTER flirting with frustratingly out-of-reach silverware for the past seven months, battling Petersfield Hurricanes deservedly broke their duck at Frimley on Saturday.

The occasion was the North East Hampshire Youth League U9 Plate final, which the jubilant Hurricanes won 3-0 against Beacon Hill Panthers.

It followed something of a frustrating summer during which the progressive Hurricanes, who have moved up three divisions within the North East Hampshire Youth League structure since forming less than 18 months ago, ran out ‘winners’ of three of the four summer tournaments they competed in – only to be denied silverware by the age-related ‘festival’ format.

This time around, in their first competitive event, they were not to be denied and reaped the reward their effort in training and on match days has deserved.

An own goal after great work by Taylor Pearce and a second goal bundled over the line at the far post by Alex Garlant after a teasing cross from Harry Timmons saw the Hurricanes go in at the interval 2-0 ahead on the artificial pitch at Frimley Lodge.

And a solo run up the right and a firm finish by Timmons sealed the win as the gutsy Panthers were finally overwhelmed.

Under the leadership of co-managers Wayne Port and Martin Redpath, the Hurricanes have got stronger as the season has gone on – the Plate win underpining the progress after a shaky start to life in Division Two, following a two-division leap in the summer.

In the Plate competition, the Hurricanes drew their first group game 4-4 at home to Rushmoor Saints Eagles before putting in arguably their best all-round performance of the season to thrash Camberley Rascals 5-0 – a team they were grouped with in the league last season and who caused plenty of problems in the three games between the two sides.

The Hurricanes wrapped up top spot in their group and a place in Saturday’s final by seeing off Churt Tigers 4-0 at Love Lane.

And the story for the Hurricanes, the only Petersfield Town Juniors side to be represented on finals day at Frimley, had the fairytale ending the players, managers and supporters had hoped for as a third consecutive clean sheet enabled captain Finlay Stafferton to get his hands on the treasured Plate after a combative final against a plucky Beacon Hill Panthers side.

Happy Hurricanes manager Wayne Port said: “My co-manager Martin Redpath and I are both incredibly proud of the Hurricanes. A phenomenal run of results at the end of last season saw the Hurricanes move up two divisions, so we knew this season would be physically more challenging.

“We also went to seven-a-side matches and much larger pitches, and to add to these new challenges Martin, our coach Oli Meaker and I changed the team’s style of play to allow us to develop our passing game.

“This meant that the players had a huge development curve to climb and we started this season with a series of incredibly close matches where the results didn’t reflect the flow of game.

“But rather than let their frustration show the Hurricanes just raised their performance levels and worked harder to achieve three outstanding wins in a row in which they kept a clean sheet and won the Plate with a 3-0 win against a strong Beacon Hill Panthers side.”

Port added: “The Hurricanes are a real example of overcoming adversity through determination to be the best you can be.”

Petersfield Hurricanes: Port, Oru, Walker, Redpath, Timmons, Ellis, Stafferton, Baragan, Garlant, Pearce.