TNS Under-10s are the futsal giant killers

The young side from Oswestry beat Crystal Palace Ladies 2-1 in a nailbiting penalty shoot-out final, which saw the club lift the national trophy for only the second time in their history.

They were presented with the awards by Hertfordshire's FA vice-chairman Brian Curtis, in front of a packed crowd of parents, FA officials and other futsal players.

Peter Wilson, head of girls and women's football at The New Saints, said: "It's days like this that these girls will never forget.

"Some 2,500 teams and 16,000 players took part in this year's competition, and we're one of eight boys and girls age group winners – not a lot of people can say that.

"The girls came up against some big name teams, even teams they support and they didn't let that overcome them.

"Full credit to all the girls for their efforts, they stood strong and can now call themselves national champions."

Wilson was part of the coaching team that saw Saints win their first futsal trophy in 2003 when the under-16s beat Spurs 1-0 with a Michelle Pasco wonder goal.

Saints travelled to the national finals at the Birmingham International Futsal Arena, having won all 10 games from their qualifiers in Shropshire and the West Midlands.

They were drawn in Group D against Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and St Annes Rovers from Liverpool, and eventually finished first.

Saints got off to a fantastic start and thumped Tottenham 4-0 before making it two wins in a row with a 5-2 success against St Annes Rovers.

They lost their final game – which was to be their only defeat of the tournament – 4-2 to Crystal Palace.

The Shropshire outfit were then drawn against Garston Met Ladies, from Watford, in the semi-final.

It was an end to end game that went to penalties after a last-minute Met goal levelled the scores at 2-2.

The shoot-out saw controversial scenes after the referee awarded extra penalties to be taken, after Saints keeper Carys Gittins saved to seemingly put them through.

But after lengthy discussions Saints were awarded the tie and a shot at silverware.

They went into the National Futsal Cup final against Palace for a second time.

Saints pressed Palace high up the pitch from the outset, forcing the Londoners to play long through balls.

The scores were level for much of the game until super striker Paris Schofield beat Palace's final defender and slotted the ball home at the near post.

Palace levelled, however, with minutes remaining taking the final to a penalty shoot-out.

Saints' Sioned Roberts stepped up to take the first penalty and fired the ball confidently into the bottom right corner of the net.

Golden goalie Gittins then saved for Saints before Chloe Furnival added a second to the Shropshire team's tally.

Palace then scored their third kick before Paris Schofield saw her shot saved.

Gittins pulled off a final good save to deny Palace and send the trophy to The New Saints.

Under-10s assistant manager Daniel Rathe said: "Palace are a strong physical side. They thought they had won the trophy before the final, they were already having their photographs taken.

"For our girls to win was fantastic. It hasn't quite sunk in with some yet. It was a day the girls will never forget and I won't either. It's superb for the club.

"I'm seeing the standard of girls football now and I think in eight to 12 years' time the quality is going to be out of this world.

"We're looking for girls to come down to our club and we want to attract more girls to the game."

Anyone interested in joining The New Saints Ladies teams, which run from under-8s to seniors, should e-mail Peter Wilson at info@tnsladies.co.uk for more information.