Braishfield Bees Tournament – 3rd Sept ’22

So the U12s split today to enter 2 sides into the braishfield bees 6 aside tournament.

First up in the morning was the ‘jaguars’. It was the first outing for our new away kit and we did look good. We were told it was the best kit of the whole day.

We had a really tough group and needed to be up for the challenge.

We were pretty unlucky in the first game losing 2.0 to Pace Pumas with one of the goals going in when the blow up goals ‘swallowed’ the ball in.

Some really good saves from Riley in goal kept the score down.

Second game was against Moneyfields. We just couldn’t get going in this one and the opponents came out 1.0 winners.

Our third game was against familiar opposition in Baddesley Park Templars. Once again we just couldn’t get our football going and just appeared to be trying too hard. The Templars fought really hard and deserved their 0.0 draw with us.

Felpham were up next. A top team from Sussex way. They had scored 7 goals in their last game but we battled well and kept them to 2.

By now we knew we weren’t to progress to the knockouts and in our final game it showed as we relaxed and eventually put in a performance much more like what we expect to see. We got a 0.0 draw with Andover town with William looking particularly good after getting angry from being pushed over.

If it’s any consolation, the 4 teams that went through from our group were the 4 teams which competed for the trophies. A very tough group.

A good spread of votes for player of the morning. Riley took the honour though with some really good saves and good distribution from keeper.

The afternoon saw the ‘Leopards’ take the stage.

A fantastic performance in the first game against a strong Southbrook team set the tone for their day. We were unlucky not to take the lead as Theo was causing them so many problems down the left. 2 sucker goals though saw a 2.0 win for galaxy.

Another good performance got us a 1.1 draw against Upper Clatford after going 1.0 down. A really switched on goal from Harry who nicked it off their keeper.

A dominant display against Braishfield next. The score line didn’t do us justice as Harry, Theo and Harrison all had good chances saved or blocked. Good work from Harrison in midfield released Harry who raced through and finished for the winner.

Game 4 was disappointing as we wanted a big performance against Totton and Eling. A misunderstanding of the rules for kick outs by the keeper led to a direct free kick on the edge of area. The oppo fired through all the bodies on the line. By the time we recovered from that shock, the game was over.

The last group game was a dead rubber as we were already guaranteed a Semi final. We still put in a very good performance against Greenfield who popped the game 1.0.

The semi final was against the second Totton and Eling team. It was a very evenly matched game with both teams playing good stuff and battling hard. Nerves jangling in the last moments but no breakthrough meant dreaded penalties.

5 brave kids took our penalties and even with a great save from Aidan, we sadly once again went out in the cruelest way.

Harry was the unanimous winner of player of the afternoon.

6 aside is a whole different type of game to 9s and I have no doubt that we will be back to our best for the big kick off next week to get revenge against Totton and Eling