A FORMER Winchester student reached the final of the FA Disability Cup, shown live on BT Sport for the first time.

Tom Kelly, who previously attended Kings’ School, made it to the Powerchair Football final, with his team Aspire Powerchair Football Club, after winning the Cup last year.

The finals were held at St. George’s Park, the home of the Football Association and England’s training ground, last month.

The Cup is the largest competition of its kind in the UK, giving players within impairment-specific football a national competition of their own.

This year, the team faced West Bromwich Albion Powerchair Football Club and narrowly lost on penalties after a closely fought match. For the first time, the competition was televised live on BT Sport, raising awareness of the playing and coaching opportunities opening up in disabled football.

Speaking on his success, reaching the final, Tom said: “I am really happy and proud to be competing at one of the highest club levels in my sport of Powerchair Football. As it was on TV this year, I feel privileged to be able to be one of the few players who are going to be showing our sport to people who won't have seen it before.”

The Barton Peveril student is the team’s goalkeeper, which involves more outfield play due to the four versus four format of Powerchair Football. The team currently train at Oaklands College in St. Albans. After finishing his studies, Tom hopes to study Sport Psychology at Brunel University, London.