The Malcolm Betteridge Cup – 21 August 2022

What a great day it turned out to be for M&T youth to announce itself.

It was an honour to be asked to host the Malcolm Betteridge Cup for our friends at Kings Copse with the added bonus of our local rivals Romsey Town involved too.

The ground looked fantastic with our brand new goals (kindly donated by Michelmersh Brickworks), freshly marked pitch and amber and black bunting adorning the respect barrier. There was a really nice atmosphere around the place with a real community feel with everyone chipping in.

This was a very proud day for us as this was exactly what we have been trying to achieve.

Parents and players from all teams appreciated the teas, coffees, party food and bar.

Thank you to all those who contributed and helped today.

The football was an added bonus. 😌

With half the squad still away on holidays, we were really grateful to Jake and Noah to step in and help us out. Never easy to try slot into a different teams way of play.

Looking sharp in our new strip, we started really strong in the first half of the fist game against Kings Copse. Good football and committed tackling, competing for first and second balls. We got our rewards with 2 lovely finishes from Harry. Very similar goals from a tactic discussed before the game.

The mighty munchkins in the middle were bossing things.

The second half didn’t go quite so well but we managed to cling on and keep that clean sheet.

Romsey and Kings Copse then played a really competitive match with Romsey just edging out KC 2.1.

This meant it all came down to the final match.

Both teams seemed a bit nervous and maybe a little tired due to the heat and it still being pre season but they both put on a great battle for the large crowd watching.

It was tight and tense all the way until the last kick as a goal for Romsey would have taken the cup.

In the end neither team deserved to lose and the 0.0 draw was a fair result.

By the merest of margins on goal difference it meant that M&T won the cup which now sits proudly in the clubhouse.

Lots and lots of clubman points handed out today as many of the boys chipped in with helping set up or clear/clean up. Great stuff!!

Aidan- Clean sheet in goal and then a real hard working battle in the second game. Was hard to get the trophy back off him at the end.

Thomas – looked comfortable in goal. Huge kick and great distribution. His power in winning the ball back started the move to get our opening goal.

William – Looked very confident which bodes well for the season. Considering he has been pretty poorly this week, he gave a top performance.

Theo – Once again never got beat. Didn’t get too many chances to attack when playing left midfield but worked hard to keep things tight.

Noah – Looked like he could have played for us for years. Played a sweeper role as the oppo let him do it and didn’t push into him. Cleaned everything up really well.

Ollie – really disciplined in that cdm role which gives us assurances. Unlucky not to score with a banger from distance.

Glyn – carried on where he left off last season. Seemed to be everywhere and wins 99% of his tackles.

Harrison – some really confident touches as we expect from him now. Unlucky not to score with some proper strikers anticipation in the second game. He did really well considering he hasn’t had his cast off long.

Jake – came to life in the second half of the last game and tortured the left back with his pace and power. Got to christen the number 8 shirt before returning to his new club.

Harry – Worked so hard up front for his team. Really intelligent runs for outlet balls and closing down the oppo when in possession. 2 superbly taken goals which are easy to miss when you have lots of time to think about it.

Glyn, William, Thomas and Harry all received votes for player of the day but the winner today was Ollie. He followed up his trainer of the day yesterday with a superb performance where he read the game brilliantly and competed for everything. Even when he couldn’t win the ball he challenged well to make it hard for the opponent. Got a lovely assist for one of Harry’s goals too.

The real winner today was football! A fantastic community day with football played in great spirit and respect.

Well done all.