FORMER Cheltenham Town forward Rich Kear hailed the young prospects at his own Aylburton-based academy following an unprecedented cup final win.

Forest Sports Education defeated ex-Aston Villa man Lee Hendrie’s academy 6-2 in the Virtual Learning UK Cup final after topping the competition’s group stage with four wins from five.

Two goals each from captain Kyle Taylor, fellow forward Charlie Meek and winger Ethan Wilkins saw Kear’s side win the competition, which also contained teams from Stevenage and a Crystal Palace academy team.

Defender Declan Powles also shone and was named man of the match.

“We went 3-0 up in the first half against what was a very good technical side,” Kear said.

“The lads worked extremely hard – that’s something about Forest sides, the work ethic is never in doubt.

“They played a lot of possession football with plenty of through balls but our goalkeeper Jordan Hale was outstanding.

“They came out of the traps flying in the second half but against the run of play we went 4-0 up."

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