Queens’ School lost 4-3 on penalties to King Ecgberts in the final of the Girls Cup at Wembley Stadium.

The Bushey-based school came through almost 600 teams to reach the showpiece final of the national six-a-side competition for Under-13s.

In the sudden death shootout, both sides hit the bar but a conversion by the Sheffield school’s goalkeeper, followed by a heart-breaking miss from Queens sent the trophy to Ecgbert.

Queens' battled through ten rounds of local and regional tournaments to reach the competition's climax played prior to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final on Sunday.

Either side could have taken the glory during the allotted 14 minutes after Cassandra Chase first struck the inside of the post for Queens' and her opposite number, India Thomson-Carr then had a one-on-one brilliantly saved by Jordan Littleboy.

Queen's teacher and team coach Katie Wilding said: "Obviously it’s dissapointing losing in the final, but all the girls should be immensly proud of themselves. To come runners up in a competition that had over 500 schoools participating in it is absolutely amazing.

“It would’ve been lovely to have come away with a trophy, but you can’t win them all. It’s been a great day out and the tournament as a whole has been brilliant. To play at Wembley Stadium in a cup final is an experience some professional footballers miss out on, so for the girls to even get the opportunity is cause for celebration.

“It has been a great day out and we have fantastic memories. It is a shame to lose it on penalties but that's football.

"They're such a great bunch of girls and they won't let it get to them. We came so close hitting the post but we will come back and do it again next year. Some of the girls will unfortunately be too old for this competition but maybe we will see some of them run out here for England in the future."

Both sides were boosted before the game by a letter of encouragement from England Ladies’ captain Faye White. The Arsenal Ladies defender ran a coaching session with both teams ahead of the final and took the time to pen her words of support before leading England to a historic victory against the United States.

The Queens team, representing Watford, featured Molly Wheeler, Littleboy, Sian Wildman, Chase, Laura Hooper, Julia Waller, Florrie Holland King and Aimee Durn.