United’s Community Sports Trust took their Mental Health team to a tournament held at Everton Football Club on Monday as part of the Mental Health Week of awareness and activities.
And it turned out to be a fantastic day for the Cumbrians as they battled through the group stages with some impressive early performances to earn the right to go head-to-head with Middlesbrough in a keenly fought quarter final.
That proved to be the toughest encounter of the competition as the Blues progressed with a 2-1 victory before seeing North East Athletic off in the semi-final with a comfortable 3-0 win.
It was then on to the final, but early goals settled the nerves and Carlisle United came away with the trophy courtesy of a thumping 7-1 win against Stoke City.
CST Manager John Halpin said: “I’d like to thank the tournament organisers for what was a fantastic experience for our players. Everything was really well put together and I think it’s fair to say that all of the teams involved enjoyed themselves and made a lot of new friends.
“Our group represented themselves and the club in an excellent manner and they came away feeling really proud. We’ve found with our mental health programme that it has become very important to those who attend and it is now also a big part of the positive treatment they receive.
“Experiences like this are of benefit to all concerned and the added bonus was that we walked away with the silverware. That put the icing on the cake, but I can honestly say that we would have come away feeling that we’d taken a lot out of it even if we’d lost every game.”
Congratulations to the CST Mental Health team from everybody at Carlisle United Football Club.