A blood and thunder tie was played out in the under 16s final as Purton twice came from behind to beat Cirencester 3-2.

The majority of the game was played in the middle third as a midfield battle took place and resolute, robust defending on both sides meant that chances from open play were at a premium.

The first chance came after 15 minutes when Oliver Mccartney-Hunt found Sam Downs, but the Purton striker couldn’t find the target.

Both teams then began to shoot from distance - first Josh Coombe for Cirencester, then Purton captain William Middler, fizzed efforts over from distance.

After half an hour, Cirencester showed a glimpse of their danger from dead ball situations as Max Lloyd found Coombe at the far post, but the bright midfielder could only find the side netting with his header.

Just before the break, Cirencester had the lead in bizarre circumstances - Jack Uzzell found the net with a curled effort straight from a corner kick.

Purton keeper Lewis Spackman came to claim the delivery, but missed the ball and it nestled just inside the post directly from Uzzell’s corner.

Less than a minute after the restart, Purton had their equaliser, midfielder Joe Miller found himself at the back post unmarked and guided the ball past Jack Gregory in the Cirencester net.

But immediately, the Gloucestershire side were back in front as Purton were undone by another Uzzell corner, which again evaded everyone and found the net.

With 15 minutes left, Purton equalised for the second time.

A good delivery from a free kick found the head of George Lamb who lofted the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Then in the final ten minutes, Purton took the lead when Olly McCartney-Hunt’s cross from deep, was carried by the supporting wind outfoxing the Ciren keeper, who was unable to stop it from dropping into the net behind him.

Purton manager James Miller said: “This set of players have been together three years, they’ve won the league twice, the county cup but this one was missing, so I’m relieved to get it.

“It was a nervy experience throughout, but we’ve come from behind three times this season to maintain our unbeaten season and they’re never beaten, this lot.

“I’ll never forget the moment (son) Joe scored the equaliser and sprinted to me on the bench, there’s nothing like that.”