The former defender was impressed with some of the girls' performances, despite their failure to get through to the finals, which will be played at Leicester Ciity's Walkers Stadium.

He said: "The standard was very high, higher than it has been in years gone by.

"The plan is to see some of these players progress to the highest level. It would be great in a couple of years time if someone who played for Hemel Hempstead here goes on to play at the top level just to prove what can be done.

"There are a lot of talented players here and I'm confident we won't be hearing the last of some of them."

The girls won the County Cup to earn the right to represent Hertfordshire at the Southern England Regional Final, and despite not progressing, manager Trevor Webbe was proud of his side.

He said: "Unfortunately we were missing a number of players but we have still performed well. We have a team of hard working girls who enjoy playing with each other and work for each other.

"It has been a great event put on by Tesco and really good for girls football. Let's hope there are more days set up like this. The girls have done brilliantly to get this far and can be proud."

The team finished third in their group behind eventual winners Herongate after recording one win and two defeats at the finals in Roehampton.