By Ryan Sipple

Following a fantastic campaign of domestic Powerchair Football, club rivalries were put aside, and all attention, support and hope directed towards England. Preparation had been superb, international training camps had been ramped up, and players were finely tuned, ready for the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup in Pajulahti, Finland.

The first name on Colin Gordon’s team sheet would probably have been England and Aspire PFC team captain, Jon Bolding. Having scored 23 goals in Aspire’s 22 National League fixtures in 2019, Bolding was in the form of his life and would prove to be an indispensable presence in England’s side. 

Having just captained his side to a second successive Premiership title, Chris Gordon’s impressive organisation and admirable leadership qualities would also be a key cog in any potential Three Lions success. Marcus Harrison produced, arguably, the season of his life in 2018/19, securing a plethora of awards, which included the Premiership Player of the Year. His dogged approach, technical ability and eye for goal could prove to be the ace up Colin Gordon’s sleeve in Finland. Bradley Bates exuded class in WBA’s title-winning side; His incredible dedication to bettering himself has ensured his development has skyrocketed over the last 2/3 years. From West Bromwich Albion’s first game of the 18/19 season, Bates’ consistency stood out, giving Colin little choice but to draft him into the international set-up. The fourth and final WBA representative was Matt Francis; Having transferred from his boyhood club, Brighton & Hove Albion PFC, in the summer of 2018, Francis seamlessly transitioned into the Champions side, impressing throughout 2019. Seen by many as Bolding’s long term successor, Francis would be a key player in helping England secure their first-ever trophy. 

A brilliant third-place finish in a closely competed MDUK National League and a fantastic run in the WFA Cup gave Northern Thunder players the opportunity and platform to exhibit their impressive abilities in 2019. Having already travelled to Florida with England for the 2017 FIPFA World Cup, Ed Common and Sam Smith maintained their high level of performance throughout 2018/19 to ensure their names on Colin Gordon’s team sheet.

With Charlie Kitcher’s retirement from Powerchair Football, one spot remained available in England’s set-up. Having been a standout in Brighton & Hove Albion’s side throughout 2019, Gregg Baxter deservedly received his first-ever call to represent England, completing Colin Gordon’s eight. 

Landing a few days before the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup’s commencement, England had a chance to acclimatise to Pajulahti’s impressive surroundings. Team building activities, sport psychology talks and invaluable preparation filled the agenda of the first two days. A sense of belief and confidence began to build around the England camp! Could this be our year?

Seven nations were represented at the 2019 tournament; hosts Finland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, England and reigning World and European Champions, France.

Pajulahti Sports Institute, PAJULAHTI, FINLAND

60.9687,25.9375

All the preparation had led to this. On Thursday 23^rd of May 2019 at 08:00 (BST), England kicked off their EPFA Nations Cup campaign against Austria. The side produced an emphatic performance, alerting all other competing nations to England’s intentions for the international tournament. Seven goals scored in both halves ensured a brilliant 14-0 win. In the afternoon of the 23rd, England faced home nation rivals, Northern Ireland. Once again, too strong for the opposition, England put on a show, exhibiting skill and sheer technical ability, sweeping Northern Ireland aside to prevail 17-0. The opening day of the Nations Cup could hardly have gone any better; 31 goals without reply. A faultless start to the tournament was imperative, considering day two’s opposition!

England 14-0 Austria

Northern Ireland 0-17 England

With confidence growing and momentum on their side, England had an early start on the Friday of competition; A tricky fixture against tournament hosts. The Three Lions initially found it difficult to maintain a rhythm and struggled to break down the stubborn Finnish defence. Eventually, 13 minutes in, Ed Common squeezed the ball over the Finland goal line to break the deadlock. With their first goal seeming to lift the nerves, England scored two more goals in the first half, followed by five in the second, sealing an 8-0 victory. The scoreline was arguably kind to England and unfair to Finland, who played admirably. Either way, it was three massive points before their clash of the titan fixture with tournament favourites, France. 

In a frustrating fixture against France, England failed to nullify the quality of Momo Ghlami, Bryan Wiess and co, who were superb in effectively preventing England from building any momentum. A game void of many England chances, France prevailed comfortably, beating England 3-0; A bitter pill to swallow! Despite this, England couldn’t afford to dwell on their first defeat of the tournament and needed to turn all attention to their following group games against Denmark and the Republic of Ireland.

Finland 0-8 England

England 0-3 France

Having fallen to a frustrating defeat to France on Friday, England had another tough day of fixtures on Saturday to overcome. Their first opponent was Demark, a competent team who had impressed in the tournament thus far. The game was frustrating for the Three Lions who struggled to find a way through the Danish defence. It wasn’t until late in the second half that England received a lucky break; A Marcus Harrison corner was whipped in from the left-hand side of the Denmark goal, picking out Jon Bolding occupying a central position. An accurate first time shot from the captain squeezed between the Danish keeper and most defensive player to (maybe controversially) be awarded as a goal! England were reserved in the remaining minutes with their one-goal lead in hand, seeing out a challenging victory! On Saturday afternoon, with one group game remaining, all that stood between England and a place in the semi-final was the Republic of Ireland. Channelling their frustration from their two underwhelming games prior, England took no prisoners, playing some lovely fluid football, carving open the Ireland defence on several occasions. Five beautifully worked England goals separated the sides at the full-time whistle. Their one-sided victory served in setting up a challenging semi-final fixture against Denmark on Sunday morning!

Denmark 0-1 England

England 5-0 Republic of Ireland

Having fought valiantly against England in the group stage, Denmark had every right to feel confident approaching their semi-final matchup on the Sunday of the competition. It was an action-packed semi-final between the two sides, who both attacked from the get-go, trying to register a crucial early goal. Despite several credible chances for Denmark, England sussed out their Nordic rivals. With the whole team firing on all cylinders, Denmark struggled to break down Chris Gordon’s and Jon Bolding’s experienced defence. From this, Ed Common proceeded to steal the show, scoring a superb hat-trick to single-handedly book England a place at the EPFA Nations Cup final! 

A superbly fought victory over Denmark ensured England progressed to the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup Final, setting up a nail-biting fixture against the formidable tournament favourites, France. Having already lost to France in the tournament, England approached Sunday afternoon’s finals as massive underdogs. All the reigning World and European Champions France had to do was repeat what they had done two days earlier in beating England 3-0, and they would lift the trophy. With a strong starting line-up of Chris Gordon, Jon Bolding, Marcus Harrison and Ed Common, everything had led to this moment!

On the four-minute mark, France’s starman Momo Ghelami found some space after drawing Jon Bolding and Chris Gordon to the right side of England’s goal, to pick out Tristian Le Beller on the left-hand side who slotted home for tournaments favourites; A bitter blow for England! France 1-0 England

A few chances fell to either side throughout the first half, but the scoreline remained the same entering the halftime interval. Similar to the first half, four minutes into the second a Chris Gordon freekick deep in England’s half was well intercepted by Bryan Weiss, whose first time shot trickled over the England goal line to put France two-nil up; a very favourable position to lift the trophy! France 2-0 England

Following this, France continued to test England’s defensive backline, and with only ten minutes remaining, were awarded a corner on the left side of England’s goal. Bryan Weiss’ powered ball into the England penalty area was superbly intercepted by Bolding, who did brilliantly to pick out Ed Common advancing up the pitch. After receiving the ball, Common (audaciously) attempted a first-time shot from well within England’s half that surpassed both Momo Ghelahmi and Marcus Harrison to ricochet off the leader’s right-hand post, holding up perfectly for Marcus Harrison to slot home into an empty net, halving the deficit- GAME ON! France 2-1 England

Whether it was an overall boost in morale following the goal, positivity from the patriotic crowd, or change in player mentality thanks to Erin Prior’s superb psychological advice throughout the tournament, from that point on, the England players and coaching set up started to believe! Despite continual waves of pressure from the potent France attack, they remained calm. England maintained a sense of control despite the clock slowly ticking down to the final whistle. 7 minutes remained, 6 minutes remained, 5 minutes remained and France were still very much in the ascendency and on course to secure the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup.

With 36 minutes on the clock, there was almost a turn in fate, role reversal almost, as this time Bryan Weiss’ freekick was intercepted by Chris Gordon, whose powerful interception found Ed Common in reverse advancing up the court. With nerves of steel, Common produced a breath-taking pass (one of the best passes I have ever seen), diagonally splitting open the France defence to find Marcus Harrison occupying an attacking position to the left of France’s goal. With a fluid first time sweep to his right, Harrison connected perfectly, slotting the shot home past Julien Reniers to level the tie! Without question one of the most impressive, memorable goals in English (if not World) Powerchair Football history! France 2-2 England

Despite a nail-biting couple of minutes following England’s superb equaliser, the Three Lions held on, ensuring the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup Final would proceed to extra time. Knowing what was at stake, both teams seemed cautious and reserved in extra-time, and with little to report, nothing could separate the sides. The 2019 EPFA Nations Cup would be settled by penalties (something all England fans dread)! 

Penalty One- Chris Gordon

First up for England was Chris Gordon! With Bryan Weiss firmly set in the oppositions net, Gordon kept his cool and slotted beautifully into the bottom right-hand corner to get the Three Lions swiftly off the mark! Huge penalty; 1-0 England!

Penalty Two- Brian Weiss

Following this, the two players swapped positions, this time Bryan Weiss ready on the penalty spot for France and Chris Gordon positioned centrally between the sticks defending England’s goal. After a few faints from the Frenchman, Weiss smashed the ball with power onto the left-hand post, which rebounded off the front of Gordon’s chair and away! SAVED! 

Penalty Three- Ed Common

Next up for England, was one of the tournaments standout players, Ed Common! Common’s powerful drive was unfortunately met by the front bumper of Bryan Weiss. Despite it being clear for all to see that Weiss moved well before Common had even struck the ball, the match official deemed the penalty legal, ensuring France were very much back in contention! 

Penalty Four- Julien Reniers

France’s next taker was Julien Reniers. Needing a goal to level the shootout, Reniers decided to aim his drive to the right of the England goal; similar to the first France penalty, Reniers’ driven penalty smashed off the post and away to safety! Two misses in a row for France!

Penalty Five- Jon Bolding

Up next El-Capitano, Jon Bolding! Having established himself as one of the worlds leading players, very few people would bet against the star man in a penalty shootout situation. As if he was in a relaxed training session, Bolding comfortably slotted the ball home to put England 2-0 up in the EPFA Nations Cup Final penalty shootout!

Penalty Six- Erwan Conq

High pressure for France’s next taker, Erwan Conq, who needed to score to ensure France still had a chance of securing silverware. As the whistle blew, Conq calmly slotted the ball past Gordon’s left-hand side to make the shootout 2-1. Despite scoring, France’s fate was taken out their hands, with the next England penalty having the potential of being decisive. 

Penalty Seven- Marcus Harrison

Last up, with a chance of making history, Marcus Harrison made his way to the penalty spot. All he had to do was score the penalty and England would win their first-ever International tournament! With the expectations of a whole nation on his shoulders, Harrison slotted the ball just inside France’s left-hand post to win the penalty shootout! FOOTBALL WAS COMING HOME!

History was made! The action-packed final was the perfect climax to a wonderful international tournament. In a high-octane 40 minutes, followed by extra-time and a nail-biting penalty shootout, the viewers got it all. Quality, controversy, drama and finally elation! England had won the 2019 EPFA Nations Cup!

Jon Bolding, Chris Gordon, Marcus Harrison, Ed Common, Matt Francis, Gregg Baxter, Brad Bates and Sam Smith, the eight heroes that finally brought football home!