Football

Royal Navy wins Inter Services title for first time in 8 years

Watch: The RAF and the Navy battle for the Inter Services title at Shrewsbury Town FC.

The Royal Navy senior men’s team have won the Inter Services championship title after an electric 1-2 finish against the Royal Air Force in Shrewsbury Town FC.

A brace by Elliot Holmes in the second half sealed the Inter Services win for the Navy after an early RAF goal by Joe Spalding in the first half.

This is the Navy’s first Inter Services win since 2016 and their first under the leadership of head coach Chris James.

The RAF were missing their star Jake Gosling and the Navy missing young talent Jack Wright due to injury, but there is no shortage of talent within both teams.

The Navy dominated ball possession in the opening first half which left the RAF playing defensive tactics.

The RAF’s patience soon paid off when Joe Spalding stepped up to get the RAF’s first goal on the scoresheet, fending off a tight Navy defence to give the RAF an early lead.

Finding themselves 1-0 down at the end of the first half, the Navy needed to score two goals in the second half to keep their Inter Services title hopes alive.

The Navy applied plenty of pressure on their RAF opponents, once again putting the light blues on the defensive.

The Navy’s persistence soon paid off when Elliot Holmes levelled the scoreboard with an impressive strike, but the Navy would not be out of the woods yet.

But it didn’t take long for Holmes to come through for the Navy again, heading the ball into the net to give the Navy the lead for the first time in the game.

With the clock ticking down to full time the RAF did their utmost to level the scoreboard, which is all they had to do to retain their Inter Services crown.

But come the full time whistle, it was jubilation for the Navy and a hard defeat for the RAF as the Inter Services trophy will return to HMS Temeraire for the first time in 8 years.