U12s continue their great recent form against a young Stockport team

Mellor U12s continued their excellent recent form with an assured 3-23 win at Stockport.

In temperatures more suited to penguins, the travelling support choose the relative warmth of the clubhouse to conduct their pre-match pep-talk whilst the boys braved the arctic temperatures to quite literally, warm up. Our conversation turned to Ged’s love of UB40 following the boys telling us there’s a rat in the changing room; a recently deceased rodent, in fact!

The first minutes of the match were relatively cagey, with the teams trading possession before Miles P found Sammy to open the scoring in our favour. This goal gave the boys confidence to push on and they finished the first quarter with a flourish, ending it 0-7 up, following goals from Eddie, James K and two from both Finn and Ellis.

The low temperatures maybe contributed to a more ‘chilled’ second quarter, with Mellor stretching their lead out to 1-10 at half time, with Miles P scoring two and Finn adding another.

Into the second half, our boys continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over and the third quarter finished 1-16 as Finn grabbed another three, alongside further goals from James K and Sammy. With our defence confidently fending off the attacks coming from Stockport, coach John began rotating the team to ensure no one was standing around in the cold for too long. This allowed Ollie to grab his first of the season, greeted by much celebration from his teammates.

As we headed into the final quarter, the temperature seemed to drop even further and with the rain, James K ask his dad “Is it normal if your legs feel moist”. Will confirmed that, in his experience, it was in that weather, particularly as he had left home without much needed thermal leggings!

Credit to Stockport for keeping going, despite the score. Their number 4 grabbed a couple of late consolation goal to cap a strong performance and their keeper certainly prevented an even more emphatic score line with some fine, if painful-looking saves.

The game ended with the score 3-23 in Mellor’s favour, following final quarter goals from Miles P (2), Charlie (2), Theo and Eddie. James also capped a man-of-the-match performance with a goal following a powerful run out of defence.

There will be tougher challenges ahead, although hopefully not many colder ones! This game followed a couple of recent big but less fluid wins, whereas this victory was built on strong foundations of team work, as illustrated by nine different goal scorers.