Corby Town boys off to national cup final after a string of giant-killings

A young football squad from Corby has seen off a series of bigger clubs to win a place in a national cup final.

The Corby Town FC Youth Academy U15s are heading to the 15,000-seat Doncaster Rovers’ ground for the final of the Junior Premier League cup.

The boys, under coaches Dave Prati and Darren Earp, have clocked-up 750 miles on the road after playing five away fixtures during the past few months against some tough opposition.

Stourbridge FC were the opponents in the first round, with a 4-1 victory for Corby, before they beat local rivals AFC Rushden & Diamonds 5-2 in the second round.

They saw off Chesterfield FC 5-2 in the third round and Kidderminster Harriers 2-1 in the quarters.

A close-fought semi-final against York City ended in penalties, with Corby Town the victors.

The team plays on Saturdays in the Junior Premier League, and then most of the squad also plays on Sundays in the local Weetabix League.

Neil Cochrane, who coaches them in the Weetabix League, and whose son Evan plays in the team which is sponsored by Impact Recruitment, said: “We’ve been through five rounds to get here and every single game has been away from home so we’ve racked up about 750 miles on the road.

"In a cost of living crisis that’s quite and investment for our parents. They’ve been so supportive.

"Sometimes you get there and you’ve only got half and hour to get the journey out of your legs and get fired up.

"Some of them stayed over in York the night before the semi the game so the boys would be fresh.

"It was 1-1 at half time so it went to penalties which was very difficult to watch!”

The final takes place on May 11 and is against a London-based independent academy called The Eight FC.

"It’s at the Eco-Power stadium which is where Doncaster Rovers play. It’s a decent-sized venue.

“Northampton Town have really kindly given us use of their luxury coach for which we’re so grateful.

"We know very, very little about the team we’re facing. Every time we’ve gone and played bigger teams they’ve been thinking ‘Corby Town, who are they,’ and we’ve gone on to win, so we’ve got every chance.”

The squad heading up to Doncaster is; James Prati, Oscar Cartwright, Joel Chinaza Unanka, Sean Chirema, Evan Cochrane, Morgan Delgarno, Max Granger, Kye Hansen, Seit Hida, Harry Hipkiss-Thain, Tommy Hooper, Michael Ideh, Luka Lukic, Harvey Payne, Oscar Price, Finley Richardson, Jayden Rigler, Lazar Sisljagic and Toby Whitty.