Hero Harley Celebrates Vertu Trophy Success
16/04/2025 12:20
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Hero Harley Celebrates Vertu Trophy Success
When Harley Mills was dismissed for two yellow cards in the final minute of his debut for Enfield Town back in September, few would have predicted what would happen just 15 miles down the road later in the season.
Mills joined forces with the National League South side on an initial one-month loan deal, with his first outing in front of 984 fans at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium resulting in a 4-1 defeat.
The teenager would go on to make eight appearances in total for the club before being recalled by parent side Peterborough United, who he had joined back in 2001 after time in the Aston Villa academy.
On his return to Peterborough, Mills was able to celebrate his first career goal in a Vertu Trophy fixture against Crystal Palace U21, although game time in League One was impacted by the form of fellow left-back Tayo Edun.
With Edun unable to play in the Vertu Trophy having appeared for Charlton Athletic earlier in the season, Mills was ever-present as Peterborough battled their way to Wembley for the second successive season.
In the 15th minute of what was only his 24th game as a professional, Mills took hold of the ball when Peterborough were awarded a free-kick just outside the Birmingham City box, before curling in a stunning left-footed shot that flew into the net off the underside of the bar.
From that point on, the Posh produced a fine defensive display to keep the newly-crowned League One champions at bay, with a second goal from captain Hector Kyprianou wrapping up victory, with Mills following in the footsteps of fellow left-back Harrison Burrows – who bagged both goals to win the competition last season.
“I remember watching Harrison last season and thinking it must have been an incredible feeling, and then in all the celebrations, Mals (Malik Mothersille) said there must be something about Peterborough and left-backs in the competition!” he reflected in the Wembley tunnel at full-time.
“Coming into the game we knew that Birmingham have a lot of quality but we took confidence from the league game against them on Tuesday, even though we didn’t get the win. We pushed them close and we know that, even though the league table doesn’t say it, there aren’t many teams that can stop us on our day with the front four we have.
“We put our full focus on our own performance and it was all about keeping the crowd quiet as they had a lot of support; but it was our fans singing at the end. They were brilliant.”
The victory for Peterborough made them the first team to retain the Vertu Trophy title, with the result as much down to a strong defensive performance that kept Birmingham’s attack – the highest scoring in League One – at bay.
“Defensively, as a whole team as we defended from the front, I thought we were first class,” Mills added. “We knew at half-time that all we had to do was keep a clean sheet and we’d win the game and that was the message from the boss.
“We had to suffer at times as Birmingham are a good side, and there were moments where we didn’t have the ball and had to defend. We got the job done and we’ll enjoy the moment, and look to kick on from here in the final games of the season."