Churchdown Panthers U8 Tournament

Many thanks to Matt T, Jim and Niffy for the reports below ...

The Lions was made up of Brendan, Lennie, Teddy, Reuben, Finley and Martin.

The Lions started off well with a 3-1 win in the first match against Churchdown Orange. All three goals from Teddy, but hard work from Brendan and Reuben assisted well. A couple of good saves in goal from Lennie.

Second game against Churchdown Panthers Black. 0-0 result. Decent chances from both teams but also good defence and good keepers. Lennie in goal again this time.

Third game was against Churchdown Panthers Whites. Brendan had a turn in goal. Whites started strong and broke though our defence, looked like an easy goal for them when Brendan surprised us with a quick, amazing save! Unfortunately after that they broke through again, nothing Brendan could do and they scored a good goal making us one nil down. The boys kept their heads up and with slight change to formation, Teddy managed to get a goal bringing us level. Teddy broke through again but got taken down in the area resulting in a penalty. Teddy stepped aside and let Finley take it, which he scored. Another goal from Teddy allowed us to finish with a 3-1 win.

Forth game ended with a 2-0 win. Teddy was in goal this time and made a couple of good saves. A good pass from Brendan resulted in a goal from Lennie. Another assist from Brendan, this time to Reuben, gave us the 2-0 win.

Fifth game against Hucclecote Hornets was a disappointing 1-0 loss. Reuben took his turn in goal. Unfortunately by this point the boys were tiring and couldn’t break through to get a goal.

Final game was against Hucclecote Hulks which gave us our worst defeat of the day with a 4-1 loss. Finley took a turn in goal. The boys started well, but tiredness took its toll. The other team were fresh with 4 subs and could just outrun us. The lions didn’t give up and after going 4-0 down, Brendan took a cracking corner cross which Lennie managed to get into the back of the net. They had another attack ,but didn’t manage a goal and the full time whistle went seconds later.

We were three players down so managed six games with only one sub in petty dire conditions. Overall, the boys played really well and worked together as a team the best I’ve seen. Really hard to choose man of the match as four of the players, Brendan, Lennie, Reuben and Teddy, were outstanding throughout all games and worked hard, but scoring 5 goals meant Teddy was awarded man of the match, with Brendan a close second.

For the Tigers, we had Jake M, Farid, Freddie, Kaiyan, Oliver S, Alfie and Ned.

Game 1 0-5 L
Game 2 0-1 L
Game 3 3-3 D Farid, Freddie, Kaiyan
Game 4 1-0 W Ned
Game 5 2-0 W Kaiyan, Freddie
Game 6 3-1 W Jake 2, Freddie

MOM- Oliver for excellent tackling and all round defensive work

Overall, they started very slow, and as if they’d never met before, as the scores suggest, but as the passing developed and they played more as a team they played very well at times, knocking it around really nicely.

If they’d have played the first match last, there is no way it would have been 5-0!

The Wildcats team consisted of Filip, Sonny, Russ, Trey, Alex (U7), Sam B (U7) and Enrico (U7).

It was a hard day for the Wildcats who finished with 5 losses and 1 draw, but these results did not fairly reflect the efforts and determination of the team, especially considering that almost half the team were playing in the year group above. Aside from one 3-0 and one 2-0 losses to two Churchdown teams, all of the Wildcats' matches were very closely fought, and it seemed that whilst the opposition would score with every shot, the ball would not go in for the Wildcats.

Three 2-1 losses against two Hucclecote teams and one Churchdown team occurred; with a sharp finish from Filip, a penalty from Russ and a belter from the half way line from Sam being the the goals for the Wildcats in each of these but numerous times the Wildcats were unlucky not to score a second, and on another day would have won, let alone draw those matches.

The Wildcats did manage a 0-0 draw against a Churchdown team; again, the better chances fell to us and they were disappointed not to win, with most notably Alex stinging the keeper's palms from yards out in the dying embers of that match.

The boys found the results hard to take, but never stopped trying and in particular Enrico and Filip worked hard to try to get the results team deserved, and it was the latter who would be awarded man of the match for superb displays in defence and goal, and a fine finish in the first match up front too.