A tale of two penalties decided the Islington Primary Schools’ Years 3-4 Boys’ Cup final as St Joan of Arc emerged victorious.

The Highbury Park school edged out Ashmount in the final after their goalkeeper saved a first-half penalty – and St Joan of Arc then clinched victory with a successful spot-kick of their own.

A record number of 22 teams took part in the seven-a-side tournament at Market Road, run by the Islington Football Development Partnership in conjunction with the borough’s School Sports and PE service.

St Joan of Arc won all three of their group matches, without conceding a goal, and went on to defeat Canonbury 3-1 in the last eight before a 2-0 semi-final triumph over Gillespie.

Ashmount endured a tougher passage to the final, edging out Newington Green 1-0 in extra time to reach the last four, where they overcame Christ the King 2-0.

In the girls’ tournament, Canonbury claimed the trophy with a 100 per cent record – and an intact defence as they won all six matches without conceding a goal.

Canonbury defeated Laycock 3-0 in the final, with Grafton and Hargrave Park also qualifying from the group stage before suffering defeats in the last four.

Meanwhile, Yerbury took the honours in the Primary Schools’ Years 5-6 Girls’ Cup tournament, recovering well after a 1-0 defeat to Tufnell Park in their first group match.

Yerbury won their remaining fixtures to reach the semi-final, where they advanced with a 2-1 penalty shoot-out victory over St Joseph’s following a 0-0 draw.

The other semi-final, between Laycock and Tufnell Park, also finished 0-0, with Laycock winning the shoot-out 3-1 to reach the final, where they went down to Yerbury by a single goal.