The Perse School under-14s celebrate England Hockey Schools' Championship bronze medal

National success for youngsters

The Perse School under-14s earned a bronze medal with an impressive performance at the Notts Sport England Hockey Schools’ Championships finals.

Having won their play-off to reach the national finals last month, they took to the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre.

Charlie Underwood and Olly Traherne were on target in their first match, a 2-1 win over Bromsgrove School.

Underwood then scored a late winner in a 2-1 defeat of Sherborne School, after vice-captain Robert Gwilt had given the Perse a lead.

After losing 2-0 to St George’s College in their final group game, they finished third in the country as runners-up in their pool.

Coach Ravi Mahendra said: “The boys did really well, not just today but through the course of the whole season. They’ve put in a fantastic amount of time and effort to get to the finals and they can certainly hold their heads up high.

“The boys are positive about the future. They’re only 13 or 14 years old so they’ve got a long hockey career ahead of them at The Perse and hopefully there can be some more successes along the way.”

The under-16 boys hockey team had three defeats out of three in their national finals.