A little bit of South America hit the south coast last weekend as the first Hampshire FA Beach Soccer Cup was staged on the Isle of Wight.

Apply Beach was the venue for the competition that was co-hosted by Hampshire FA and England Beach Soccer.

Even a midday downpour on Saturday couldn't dampen the tremendous carnival atmosphere that was created with cheerleaders and a kinship between teams that isn't normally seen in such a high profile event.

Saturday saw all the qualifying rounds completed, with the latter rounds of both the Hampshire FA Trophy and Hampshire FA Cup along with the finals completed in glorious sunshine on Sunday afternoon.

Wight Stripes outplayed Wight Knuckle Ryde in the Hampshire FA Trophy final, winning 5-3.

The Hampshire FA Cup was the highlight of the weekend and featured two teams jam-packed with international players. The current IOW champions who had represented England in Europe were the clear favourites, but had not been convincing in their earlier games.

Their opponents, Sandown Sociedad, had been on top form to reach the final and that's where the smart money was going.

The final lived up to what everyone was expecting and the score was level after the end of the third period. As with normal beach soccer rules the game went in to a sudden-death penalty shoot out.

The Bee's missed their first penalty and England international and MVP Alex Breighan calmly blasted home the winner to give Sandown Sociedad the Hampshire FA Beach Soccer Cup title.

Life is a beach: The participants of Hampshire FA's Beach Soccer Cup.