Peafield’s youngsters came out on top of what is believed to be the world’s largest schools competition, the U11 English Schools FA Seven-a-side Championship for Boys, which drew almost 3,000 entries nationwide.

The Woodhouse team showed that they are best of the lot in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 who had gathered to witness the England v Scotland U18 Schoolboys’ International for the Bobby Moore Trophy.

On a day when other Mansfield football was down in the doldrums, the victory, by 2-1 over Gloucester outfit Dinglewell, came at the end of two days that the Peafield boys will never forget.

The previous day they had travelled south to Watford to play in the semi-finals, in which they had been drawn to meet Northern champions Rickleton School from Washington, Tyne and Wear.

It was a somewhat fortuitous goal that gave them the 1-0 victory and their Wembley date the next day as Luke Darby spotted the Rickleton keeper off his line and executed a delightful hooked 25-yard shot over him and into the net.

The northern opponents battled hard for a way back in the second half, but stout defending by Harry Joule and Conor Green in particular restricted them to long range pots at goal, and Peafield held on to book their place in the final.

In the final Darby showed he had no ‘Wembley nerves’ when he gave Peafield the lead after just two minutes, set up by the influential Cameron Dear.

Dear also did the spadework for the second goal five minutes before half time, put away by Liam Green.

But, just when it seemed Peafield would carry a 2-0 advantage into the interval, Dinglewell pulled a goal back right on half time.

Peafield were forced to defend their lead in the second half, but once again Conor Green was magnificent in keeping the opponents at bay.

Conor denied Dinglewell an equaliser when they rounded the Peafield goalkeeper and looked set to score, until he popped up to clear off the line and preserve the victory.

“It was a great thrill for the boys and for the 190 supporters we took down to the occasion,” coach Carl Pattison told Chad.

Peafield’s route to Wembley began back in October when they won the Mansfield Primary Schools’ competition, which earned them a place in the county tournament, when they remained undefeated in both group and knockout games to beat off competition from seven other schools.

They then won the 12-school Midlands finals in Leicester to join the last four for the national semi-finals at Watford and the ultimate experience of playing at Wembley.

And whether any of the squad ever make it into the professional game when they are older, they will never forget the experience of playing at the new Wembley, and will always be able to boast: “I’ve played at Wembley.”

Peafield’s nine-man squad was:-

Joseph Darby (goalkeeper), Owen Holt, Conor Green, Harry Joule (captain), Liam Green, Cameron Dear, Luke Darby, Rhys Edmonds, and Ben Hayden.