Maidstone United Raiders Lift the Silverware!

The curtain came down on the Kent FA County Cup Finals this season on Sunday with the Kent Reliance Disability Youth Cup which was held at Play Football in Rainham.

Maidstone United Raiders, Charlton Athletic Deaf, Bromley Green Valiants, Sheppey United Youth, Milton & Fulston, Faversham United Youth & Charlton Athletic Ability Counts all battled it out on a lovely sunny morning with Charlton Athletic Deaf bidding to retain the Cup.

Group A consisted of Maidstone United Raiders, Charlton Athletic Deaf, Milton & Fulston and Charlton Athletic Ability Counts. The opening match in the group saw Maidstone United draw 3-3 with Charlton Athletic Deaf in a game that saw a couple of terrific goals. Charlton Athletic Ability Counts opened with a 3-2 win over Milton & Fulston and then Maidstone United defeated Milton & Fulston 7-0. Charlton Deaf beat neighbours Charlton Athletic Ability Counts 1-0 and then followed that up by beating Milton & Fulston 5-1. Group A ended with Maidstone United qualifying as Group Winners with Charlton Athletic Deaf going through as Runners-up.

 Group B was made up of Bromley Green Valiants, Sheppey United & Faversham Town Youth with each team playing each other twice. The group got underway with Bromley Green beating Sheppey United 3-1 and was followed by Faversham Town Youth drawing 1-1 with Bromley Green. Sheppey United beat Faversham Town 1-0 and then Sheppey United beat Faversham again 4-1 to end up as Group winners with Sheppey United joining them in the Semi Finals as group Runners Up.

The Semi Finals pitted Maidstone United Raiders against Sheppey United whilst Charlton Deaf took on Bromley Green in the other tie. Some great football was on display as all four teams battled to reach the Final. Maidstone United Raiders defeated Sheppey United 10-2 with Charlton Deaf running out 5-2 winners against Bromley Green.

The Final saw a rematch of the opening match of the tournament with Maidstone United Raiders up against Charlton Deaf, and as per their first meeting it turned out to be a fantastic match. Both teams played some superb football and Maidstone took a two goal lead, Charlton worked hard to get back into the match and were rewarded as time ticked by to reduce the deficit to 2-1 but as hard as they tried they couldn’t find the equaliser meaning Maidstone United Raiders lifted the Kent Reliance Disability Youth Cup.

For more information about disability football in Kent, please contact Lauren Cundy - Football Development Officer on Lauren.Cundy@KentFA.com