Southside Star Cubs U7 v Twyning Tigers U7

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For the Lions we had Alex Powell in charge, in his team was son Archie, plus Oliver, Alex, Ralf, Jesse, Toby W, Lemmy and Max. Thanks to Alex for the report below:

Game 1: Southside Lions 5 – Twyning 1
The players were in a buoyant mood during the warm-up and took this into the match. Within 2 minutes we were ahead, Toby and Oliver worked well to close down the opposition defenders; this resulted in Oliver striking home in confident fashion to open up the scoring.

The rest of the first half was reasonably even, with Twyning having some success and testing Archie in goal. Archie saved well down to his left, following a powerful low shot. Alex was concentrated in defence, frequently denying some fleet footed Twyning attacks by clearing the ball and preventing further opportunities. Meanwhile, Jesse was busy in midfield, with tenacious work to move the ball forwards and pick up the loose balls. Toby always looked dangerous in possession with impressive dribbling and neat footwork.

In the second half, the Lions seemingly grew in confidence, aided by the fact we had 8 available players, allowing us to rotate 3 players every 5 minutes. Max showed some nice touches in midfield and was key in helping to build momentum, while also having a keen eye to get back and defend any counter attacks. Ralf was always in the thick of the action, covering every blade of grass and was hugely influential in dispossessing his opponent and driving forward with the ball at his feet.

There was a flurry of late goals between the 15th and 20th minute. First, Jesse made a clever block which ricocheted favourably to enable Jesse to burst through the middle of the pitch and double our lead through some determined running. Lemmy was often involved and cleared well on more than one occasion to deny some promising play from the visitors. It was then Lemmy’s pass which led to Oliver’s second goal, quickly followed by his third and fourth to secure the match.

Oliver proved too strong while running with the ball and was excellent in evading the incoming tackles. However, the final goal of the game was from Twyning- a much deserved and well-worked goal after some silky skills.

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Game 2: Southside Lions 6 – Twyning 1
The players were visibly full of confidence now, and it took only 1 minute for Toby to break the deadlock. The Lions pressed high and closed the Twyning defence. As the ball inadvertently broke across the goal, Toby was quick to march in and finish with a sliding effort ahead of the goalkeeper.

The Lions were doing well down the flanks, with Max busy in the middle of the pitch; he was pivotal to much of the Lions good work and constantly took up good positions to find space and offer a passing option.

Lemmy was again proving to be strong in defence, denying Twyning’s attacking players with some good tackling and tracking back. Once again, Oliver proved too powerful, scoring two additional goals in the 8th and 9th minute to strengthen the Lions position.

Archie in goal was not called upon too often, but an excellent shot from a Twyning striker resulted in an eye-catching double-handed parry to keep the ball out of his goal. But it was Toby who was instrumental in the next goal, with a lung-busting run down the right wing, gliding past two players before crossing expertly to Ralf. Ralf had done well to support his teammate, and finished calmly, steering the ball past the goalkeeper.

Alex came back on in defence, tackling well and passing out from the back to help start the next attacks, Alex was extremely disciplined throughout and grasped the importance of maintaining a good position on the pitch. Jesse also returned to the action, this time in a more advanced attacking role; he worked tirelessly to chase the ball down and introduce some extra energy.

Moments later, Twyning had the ball in the net; a superbly struck effort, high into the roof of the goal, it fizzed past Archie. But almost directly from kick off, Oliver was on hand to run down the left wing, cut inside, and fire a hard low shot into the far corner- a tremendous solo effort and goal. Two minutes later, Oliver completed the scoring with his 8th goal of the day; he certainly brought his shooting boots!

It was fantastic to see the smiles on faces and hear the players encourage and help one another. Oliver was awarded Player of the Match, deservedly so for some fantastic goals and general play, but it was a very impressive team effort, with each player contributing positively. The lads very much enjoyed a morning in the sun, and it was a pleasure to help a great group across the two games.

Well done to everyone!!!!

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For the Tigers we had Steve New in the hot seat, in his team was son Toby, plus Tim, Ben, Luke, Hudson, Freddie and twins Filip & Fabian. Thanks to Steve for the report below:

Game 1:
Southside Tigers 0 - 3 Twyning

This was a very hectic start to the match, as the majority of the children were taking part in the usual training session, so as we were making our way over to the pitch, the opposition were already in their positions and raring to go.

The game started really well for the Tigers, as we dominated possession and there were some excellent individual runs that saw us have a handful of one-on-one chances that we couldn't convert. Hudson showed his blistering pace on a few occasions, but couldn't convert his chances. Throughout the game we hit the post three times with Hudson, Fabian and Freddie all going within inches of putting us ahead.

Tim played in goal for the first half of the match and he made some excellent saves, keeping Twyning at bay. On another day, these could have easily been converted. Late on in the second half, Twyning managed to score 3 quickfire goals to shock the Tigers players and the match ended 3-0.

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Game 2:
Southside Tigers 0 - 7 Twyning

Where to start with this one? The children were very tired before we even started this match, with 2 of them asking to start on the bench, which is understandable having already played an hour and a half of football!

We started slow and within the first 5 minutes we had conceded 2 goals. The children's heads were down and it was clear to see they were tired, but didn't want to give up. A couple of costly mistakes saw us go 4-0 down going into half time.

We sat down and gave them a little inspirational team talk and they were raring to go again. We added a 6th player onto the field to try and reduce the deficit, but Twyning's brilliance shone as they quickly added a 5th. With a few minutes to go they added a 6th and with the last kick of the game, rounded off an excellent performance with a 7th.

After a full time sit down talk with them, they are looking forward to the next lot of matches.

The Player of the Match award went to Hudson, for his phenomenal performance in the first game. His individual runs were brilliant, but also his desire to track back and make some important interceptions were exactly what was needed.

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Well done to everyone who played today, lots of fun and enthusiasm, plus no little skill. Look out for the Bourton tournament on 18th May.