Kegan van der Merwe wins the 2016 Challenge Cup!

Saturday 21 May 2016, Pretoria, South Africa : With the excitement and build up to Saturday's FA Cup Final taking place at Wembley, 8 players participated in the 2016 edition of the PFC Challenge Cup. What followed was 4 Rounds of exciting match-ups and as a bonus each round ended with an FA Cup Final from the past (and present) ! The "finals" had to yield a result - meaning that the excitement levels were raised further by the prospect of penalty shoot-outs!
Bevin Reed raced to the top of the standings after winning his first three matches, but in Round 4 he suffered a 2-0 loss to the other pre-tournament favourite Jayden vd Merwe - a well deserved win for Jayden, as this was in fact his first triumph over Bevin in 2016 ! In the end, the results were not good enough for either of the pre-tournament favourites (Bevin & Jayden) to take the honours on the day. The day belonged to Kegan vd Merwe - posting 3 wins & 1 draw, an undefeated run to take the 2016 Challenge Cup. As reported during last month's Pretoria Open when Kegan captured the Plate Section, it was evident that Kegan's confidence returned last month and it was no surprise as he proved "the man to beat" on the day ! The highlight came at the end of Round 3 when Kegan accounted for Adam Murray by 3-0 in their "final" of the day - Kegan stunned Adam by posting the fastest goal on the day, opening the scoring after only 16 seconds of play ! In a must win game in Round 4, Kegan triumphed by 1-0 over another favourite Chessray Jooste, the result handing Kegan the title by 1 point over Bevin. Kegan was the first ever winner of the PFC Challenge Cup - having captured the cup on it's first edition in 2013. As an added incentive, Kegan was also awarded with the brand new 2016 Pretoria Flickers Club shirt for his efforts on the day! Thanks to all for attending and making the day a success once again!

(report by Julian vd Merwe)

More images from the event available on the link below :
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B24jpUVAP3RkUXRpSnJ4cVBmc0k&usp=sharing

Final Standings - Pts
Kegan vd Merwe (Stoke City) 7
Bevin Reed (Liverpool) 6
Jayden vd Merwe (Spurs) 5
Chessray Jooste (Everton) 4
Julian vd Merwe (QPR) 3
Adam Murray (Man City) 3
Stanton Nortjie (Crystal Palace) 2
Sherwin Reed (Man Utd) 2

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