The boys did brilliantly at the tournament to finish 3rd in our group and go into the Europa league quarter finals.
Our 'Group A' was a tough drawer against Upton A, Saughall A, Vauxhall B and an academy side Atletico. It was clear that the games against Saughall and Vauxhall were going to be key!
Our first game started with the ref giving a penalty against us as the talented Upton no.7 fell inside the box. He then scored another two although the Bees did have a couple of clear opportunities at the other end. It ended as a 3-0 loss.
The second game against Vauxhall was very even and remarkably ended 3-2 with Oliver scoring the first followed by two from Emlyn, as the game went 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2 ! A brilliant game which was literally end to end against a good opposition.
The third and most crucial game we played was against Saughall and we went ahead through Yazan and then 2-0 up with Emlyn before we conceded a late consolation. Everyone was involved and we looked pretty solid and were the better team.
The final game of the group against Atletico would decide if the lads finished 2nd or 3rd so it was unfortunate that the young referee missed a blatant hand-ball to set-up the only game of the game. Without the use of the VAR system, we felt a bit robbed to lose 0-1 but these things happen in tournament football - ask Frank Lampard!
So we progressed in 3rd place to the quarter finals where we were unluckily drawn against Christleton Newscene who play in the A league and are regarded as one of the best teams in Chester. The boys fought brilliantly and the game was extremely close. The lack of normal retreat rule meant we gave away a couple of soft goals but each time we fought back and equalised.
Newscene scored a screamer which we thought would be the winner before Emlyn picked up the ball and hit his own thunderbolt into the roof of the net just as the final whistle blew.
PENALTIES!
Of the 9 boys only 2 did not fancy taking a pen, so we had 7 brave souls to choose from. We switched Emlyn in goal and picked Emlyn and Oliver to take the first two and then it came down to a coin toss between Thomas and Henry to take the dreaded third.
All the boys hit fantastic penalties, all on target, with our last one being saved which meant Newscene could proceed if they scored their final pen. It was hit hard to the top corner to send us home...but with our heads held high as we had punched above our weight and without Ben who has been one of our best players this season.
Well done boys. This is great experience and we played very well all day. More tournaments to come in June!
No comments:
Post a Comment