Under 8s Half Season Summary

At the end of last season we had a team of 10 players playing for both the A and B teams with most turning out for both teams. The lads involved at Under 7’s did us proud with many playing for 2 teams. A Saturday team and our Sunday team. That left Ivan and myself a little nervous for the start of next season. Will we lose half our team or will they stay with us as we were forced into a change from Sundays to Saturday matches? Everybody chose to stay with us which was superb and allowed us to build 2 teams capable of competing at under 8’s in the upcoming season.

The Season started at the Moston Brook tournament with the A team being the players from last season and the B team a mixture of last season and new players coming in to get their first taste of competitive football. Onto the tournament itself and The A team finished runners up which was a superb effort considering they were missing Conner up front and Josh in goal, and also the fact that the winners were Cherry Brook and hence containing a team full of kids at Man Utd under 7’s. The B team found the going tough but never gave up and gave Ivan and myself confidence and belief that with time, training, and matches they had the talent and ability to leap forward and challenge stronger.

Next up came the Boundary Park tournament were we entered just 1 team which was a mixture of both teams and helped to bring on the new players which now included Daniel and Reece who joined us via the club trials in the summer. Again the lads excelled and again finished runners up losing 2-1 to a late goal in the final. However I feel we were very unlucky here in that our semi final saw our lads kicked all over the place causing a few injuries, and then we had to play the final with only 5 minutes rest whereas the other finalists had a good 15 minutes rest and an easy semi.

Nonetheless we took the lead through Daniel Johnson and held firm until near the end when we conceded 2 goals. The second being a whack and hope that could have gone anywhere. The lads did us proud again and also gave us confidence that both teams were improving fast.

On to the new league season and a quick summary shows

Squad – Josh, Louis, Jack, Madjid, Conner, Daniel F, Morgan, Mussa

Played – 12

Won – 9

Drawn – 1

Lost – 2

Goals For – 54

Goals against – 13

The season started against Reddish Phoenix and the lads ran out 5-0 winners serving notice to the league of what we were capable of. Although I famously went on record as not being happy with the performance feeling we won as individuals and not as a team. Later in the season we played reddish again and won 10 – 0 and played as a team in an outstanding display of flowing football.

The recent 2-1 win against Curzon Ashton from Division 1 in a game we dominated

The 19 – 0 win over Duckinfield

The 10 – 0 Reddish Phoenix win in a display of total football Arsene Wenger would have been proud of

The A team have been a revelation this year. We always thought they had potential and this year they have started to fulfil it. They now need to ensure they continue to work as a team and more importantly help each other to improve all the time.

Squad – Josh, Raheem, Zack, Adam, Arman, Todd, Reece, Dominic, Daniel J, Michael, Ubaida

Played – 12

Won – 6

Drawn – 2

Lost – 4

Goals For – 29

Goals Against – 21

Like the A team the lads started well with a 3-1 win against Reddish Phoenix in a strong performance giving the lads a perfect start to the season. They then played a few tough games against the leagues better teams which showed the lads were they needed to work to improve. They did this and came back in storming fashion starting against FC sports with a spirited 0 – 0 draw and then following that up with a string of fine wins, the peach being the 7 – 0 win over Hollingworth FC and the superb 0 – 0 draw against Curzon Ashton from division 1.

The 7-0 win over Hollingworth

The fightback in the return fixture against FC sports

The superb draw against Curzon Ashton

The B Team has improved so much this season it has been a joy to watch the matches and they have been a joy to train.