SLOUGH Scorpionz landed their second small-sided national tournament of 2019 when winning the inaugural Bet Regret Cup at London Shoreditch Powerleague.

The Bet Regret Cup has been introduced as a five-a-side tournament to increase the awareness of betting in football. The campaign behind the event is being pushed by former professionals Sol Campbell, David James, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Paul Konchesky, Joleon Lescott and Carlton Cole.

They were all in attendance at the flagship centre for Powerleague to watch the national final and the winning team had the privilege to share the pitch and play against the team of stars.

The journey began at the Powerleague in Slough where

the Scorpionz

comfortably qualified for the national final. Teams all over the UK had the chance to qualify as over 20 centres participated and, in total, 16 teams reached the national final in Shoreditch.

Slough Scorpionz headed to Shoreditch without manager Zufran Asghar but with a strong seven-man squad that had plenty of experience. The squad included veteran keeper Jags Chaim, Singh Sabha trio Jovan Bain, Rushid Hamid and Pritpal Raju, plus Kurt Herbert and Daryl Dias. The was led by captain Umar Riaz.

Having

won the FA Peoples Cup

earlier in the year, the Scorpionz were looking to make it title number two in 2019 after suffering to national defeats in the past two months, losing in the semi-final of the Neymar and Unicef tournaments.

The Scorpionz started well in their first group game when beating a young but strong team from London, coming back from two goals behind to win 4-3 thanks to fine finishing from Herbert.

The Slough-based side dominated their group as they comfortably won the next two games.

Their final game in the group was tough as they faced a strong side fro South London but Scorpionz ensured their good form carried on with a 2-0 thanks to goals from Raju and Herbert.

Scorpionz pulled off a great performance in the quarter-final to beat a team from Portsmouth 5-0 with goals from Herbert and Nahir Nawaf.

The Slough team were pitted in the semi-final against a strong IFC side that had plenty of five-a-side experience. It was a cagey affair as both teams went toe-to-toe. The games turning point came with a quality moment, a disguised free-kick from Herbert set up Hamid to fire past the keeper. Scorpionz then defended well to ensure they reached the final.

Scorpionz met old foes Twisted Cinnamon from Leicester in the final. The two sides have played against one another several times at various national tournaments, so both understood it was going to be a tough game.

The Scorpionz dominated the match and scored early on which really knocked Cinnamon down. Good pressure from Bains resulted in the Cinnamon player making a mistake and the ball fell invitingly for Riaz to pick his spot and fire home.

The advantage was doubled by Herbert, who was causing the opposition plenty of problems. Scorpionz made it three when Herbert got his second off the game.

The team then switched off and conceded a sloppy goal but they eventually ran out 4-1 winners as Hamid got the final effort to ensure a fifth national five-a-side title.

Once the dust had settled from the celebrations, Slough Scorpionz were then invited for a game with the ex-pros. It was a great moment for the Scorpionz and an amazing experience.

The ex-pros ran out 4-2 winners as fine finishing from Cole and Konchesky was too much for keeper Chaim to handle. The Slough goals were scored by the impressive Herbert and Hamid.

Captain Riaz was then given the honour to lift the Bet Regret Cup and presented the trophy by Campbell.