We’ve all dreamed of scoring a crucial goal in the cup final. And we’ve all dreamed of captaining our team to a memorable cup final win. Well these dreams became a reality for one of AC Hoylake’s longest-serving players, and all on her final game for the club!

An early start

Millie Henshaw joined AC Hoylake when she was just five-years-old, and has always been a natural with the ball at her feet – not looking one bit out of place as she trained with her older brother’s team.

But training in a higher age group wasn’t to last – it wasn’t fair on the older lads who could never get the ball off her, if nothing else – and Millie joined up with Antony’s comets team, before moving on to play with the Stars under Andy, the Meteors under Bryan, and finally Galaxy with Bryan and Les.

Picking up silverware

Millie has always been a fantastic ambassador for the club, and anyone who’s ever trained or played alongside her will attest to what a great player and exemplary character she is to have around – and following on from several Player of the Year awards, she was awarded the prestigious Club President's Trophy at U10s – an award only given to exceptional playing contributors to the club.

A cup win had still managed to evade her though, until the very last game of the season, which was also set to be her very last for the club, as she will be joining up with Wrexham Girls from the start of the 2017/18 season.

Going out in style

After both negotiating some tricky fixtures, and being kept apart in the earlier rounds, the 2017 Top Divisional Cup final was an all-AC Hoylake affair, as Galaxy faced Stars in a derby-day decider, and this age group’s biggest ever game.

Galaxy were dealt a severe blow just days before the final, as their goalkeeper broke his ankle in a freak playground accident at school. And when the call was put out to the rest of team for a replacement keeper, Millie stepped forward and volunteered without hesitation.

Millie was awarded the captain’s armband for the final, in recognition of all her effort and fine performances during the season – and she played a true captain’s role, making some outstanding saves in the face of some relentless and brilliant attack play from Stars, to crucially keep their lead down to just one goal, and keep Galaxy in the game.

Half Time - AC Hoylake Stars 2-1 AC Hoylake Galaxy

The captain was then replaced as keeper at half time, and in the second period, gave as commanding an outfield display as you’re likely to see, setting the tempo for a vastly improved second half performance from Galaxy.

The rain started to hammer down, and as the weather turned so did Galaxy's performance, but Stars were defending bravely and keeping out everything their opponents could throw at them.

But just as it looked like Stars had done enough to secure the win, Millie showed exactly why Wrexham came knocking, and rifled an amazing long range shot into the bottom corner – it was arguably Galaxy's best goal of the season, and without question their most important.

The equaliser was a bitter blow to Stars, who were just moments away from the win, but Galaxy took advantage of the momentum they'd built up in the second period, and managed to see the game out 4-3 in extra time.

As captain, Millie was able to lift her first trophy for AC Hoylake, having been beaten in the final on penalties the year before - a fitting end to a brilliant season for her.

We wish Millie the best of luck on her footballing journey – although she’s been playing since the age of five, the journey is really just beginning, and we’ve no doubt we’ll be seeing her in the FAWSL in a few years’ time.

And if you're going to leave AC Hoylake to join Wrexham's Girls Academy, then why not do it in style?!

A history of Millie at AC Hoylake http://www.achoylake.com/photos/u12s-starlet-joins-wrexham-girls-759113.html