Churchdown Panthers U6 Tournament

We entered 2 teams for the day, Tigers & Lions ... see reports below from respective managers Niffy Norman and Matt Arthur.

The Tigers team consisted of Freddie, Luke Smith, Rafa, Arlo, Theo, Jonah, Caleb and Harry.

The Tigers got off to an excellent start, with Luke scoring the only goal in a dominant game against Minchinhampton, but they suffered a setback in their second match when coming up against a very tough FC Lakeside team who passed the ball well and put 3 goals past the Tigers' defence without reply.

However all kept their heads held high and were determined to come back stronger, which they did in their next match against another Lakeside team, with first Luke then Arlo bursting through to slot home. Lakeside did manage a goal back but the Southside defence held firm for a 2-1 victory. Unfortunately Arlo had to leave us at this point, but scoring what turned out to be the winning goal seemed the perfect way to sign off!

The team would then suffer a couple of losses on the bounce, first a 2-0 defeat against Quedgeley Reds where they were resolutely beaten but kept their heads up, then would lose another match against FC Lakeside in a much more controversial manner. The only goal of the game was from a penalty which was missed, but the referee strangely ordered it to be retaken, from which the opposition player scored the second time round. Something like this could only occur against FC Lakeside! Try as they might the Tigers could not seem to equalise despite a number of chances - at one point Freddie dribbled brilliantly around all 4 opposition players but could only hit wide in front of goal!

And yet once again the heads never dropped, and the Tigers would eventually get what they deserved by finishing the day with a three match unbeaten run. The first of these three was against Quedgeley, a match in which strikers Rafa and Freddie bombarded the opposition goal and it was Freddie who scrambled home to get the goal he so craved and deserved. They were later replaced by Theo and Jonah who continued well in much the same vein, and it was Jonah who would finish late on to cap a 2-0 victory.

The penultimate match was the one they had been waiting for - the crunch match against Southside Lions! Both teams gave everything against their clubmates but neither could find a goal and a very entertaining 0-0 draw was a fair result.

To finish the day, Luke scored both goals in a comfortable 2-0 victory against hosts Churchdown Panthers, claiming for himself both top score for the day and man of the match in the process. In truth any of the tigers were deserving of man of the match as they all played really well and never gave up even when results didn't go their way. Special extra mentions to Freddie for his determination to score, Harry who never seemed to stop running and Caleb for his keen willingness to learn how to play defence!

Super proud of the Southside Lions U6’s (mini 7’s) at their first ever tournament at Churchdown. Many played their first games last week and, after a slow start in their first 3 games (losing 2-0, 4-0, 2-0), played superbly in their last 5 games - yes, 8 games in total ☀️. Highlights were winning against Minchinhampton 4-0 (Josh x 3, Oliver), Lakeside Whites 2-1 (William, Oliver), Quedgeley 3-2 (Josh x 2, Amin), a great battling 0-0 draw with the Tigers (they were lucky! ?) and a great battle with Lakeside Reds losing 1-0 (we dominated the game and just couldn’t score).

Amazing achievements all round and super proud of everyone - Josh 5 goals and kept running all game, Oliver 2 great goals and brilliant up and down the pitch, William W a great goal and all round team performance, Ralph non-stop tackling and running and a great shot, William C a brilliant defensive display, Amin a great goal and some excellent keeping especially against the Whites, Jacob great improvement throughout and some good tackles and shots at the end.

Man of the matches (yes 2) this week were Oliver and William W for their great all round games and goals. A shout out to Josh for his 5 goals too.