BRENT S six-a-side footballers narrowly missed out on a place in the London Youth Games final as they lost to eventual winners Newham on Saturday. The borough s squad of 12 put together an eight-match unbeaten run, but were eliminated in the final group p

BRENT'S six-a-side footballers narrowly missed out on a place in the London Youth Games final as they lost to eventual winners Newham on Saturday.

The borough's squad of 12 put together an eight-match unbeaten run, but were eliminated in the final group phase by a 2-0 defeat and had to settle for fifth place.

Earlier, Brent - managed by Abdi Farah and Mohammed Jama - had beaten Enfield (2-1), Barking (1-0) and City of London (2-0) to reach the second stage, where they kept up their 100 per cent record.

Merton were beaten 2-0 and convincing 3-0 victories over Bromley and Bexley carried Brent into the last eight, where they fought out a 1-1 draw with Haringey.

Top scorer Raheem Sterling hit two more goals and Tyrell Miller-Rodney the other in a 3-1 success over Harrow, but Brent's run finally came to an end against a strong Newham side.

Brent squad: Rene Prince, Emanuel Pereira (capt), Freddie O'Connell, Tom O'Brien, Abdi Gasar, Hanad Musa, Riad Onughia, Raheem Sterling, Ishmael Thomas, Tyrell Miller-Rodney, Felipe Ricardo, Giovanni Baptiste.

Brent's girls finished 20th overall after winning three of their games - against Bromley (twice) and City of London. Their other results were a draw against Islington and defeats by Barnet and Lewisham.

Squad: Charlotte Joyce, Rukaya Khan, Zemeka Clarke, Tracey Ann Simpson, Manisha Madhani, Rosie Brady, Fawsiya Mohamed.

Other highlights for the borough at Crystal Palace came in the cycling competition, where newcomers Oussama Elarif and Abdullatif Adare took 16th place.

The year nine duo from Kingsbury High School rode well around a tricky course that included a long steep hill.

Superb performances from Brent's weightlifters Javed Ahmadi and Faris Alwaly enabled the borough to finish 13th despite being unable to field a full team.

Both Ahmadi and Alwaly, who prepared for the competition at Wembley Youth Club, achieved personal bests in the snatch (42kg) and the clean and jerk (56kg).

The girls' tag rugby team, from Alperton School and coached by teacher Josef Mackie, overcame injuries to key players to match the weight-lifters' position of 13th.

An inexperienced archery team - Amanda Yuen, Euan Lewis, Robert Pole and Jack Talboys - also gained valuable points for Brent as they finished in 18th place.

The athletics squad, managed by Anna-Maria Thorpe, performed consistently to finish 22nd (girls) and 21st (boys).

Squad: Robert Keating, Jordan Lewis, David Minn, Elliot Grossman, Johnathan Shinder, Dean Oamen, Andre Montgomery, Jordan Lewis, Roushell Campbell, Issacar Whyte, Stacey Fullerton, Carla Onwordi, Saskia Davis.

And Brent's netball team, from Kingsbury High School and managed by Clare Connor, took 18th place after going out in the initial group stage but recovering to win their final game.

Squad: Jamila Raji, Farah Ahmad, Natalie Mehta, Joyce Mowonge, Jeyasreeth Parameswaran, Enoila Adesanya, Atinuke Andoyi, Antonia Dixion, Shireen Mohammad, Devi Mukunthan, Betty Naua-Ansah.

In the overall London Youth Games table, Brent finished 24th out of 33 teams and a borough spokesman said: "Brent Sports Service would like to congratulate all teams on really good performances.