The squad arrived in plenty of time in Hitchin for the start of the U-14’s tournament at Blueharts.
After our first game was cancelled, we were practising our passing with the keeper yet to be padded up when we were told that we were playing straight away against stand-in Blueharts reserves! As to be expected we started slowly and let in a simple goal before we got settled. We got back into the game with some good passing in midfield and defensively we became more solid with tenacious work from Dawud and James T. Offensively, we took a long time to gain confidence and to run at the opposition but once we did, we enjoyed the majority of the possession and were unfortunate not to score. A late scuffed shot sneaked in at the far post to make the final result 0-2.
The second game, we needed to get back on winning terms and we started off well with a lucky but well-crafted goal from Teddy after he took a shot (with power) going wide but suddenly hit their players foot, dramatically changing the path of the ball and making it land in the net 1-0 CMONNN!! After their only shot on target saved by the goalkeeper things started to get a bit heated but we were determined for a second to give us some breathing place, we did just that with another finish from Teddy making us 2-0 up. This gave us time to relax but we did quite the opposite and after the third goal had gone in from Teddy, we set off for our last game with high hopes a good mood and a very bored goalkeeper. 3-0.
Our last game, our hopes were high, we started with good running from Aled (who used his pace well) and Sam (holding the ball up with good stick skills) up top. Our confidence with the ball was really positive. Teddy made a good pass to lead to our goal, a lift from Arran (who was overdue success after a lot of hard work). It was roughly half time and things started to crumble. We held back and with some discouragement from excellent runs from our opposition, we slacked with our man-marking and it felt like it was too easy for them. We had a quick counter-attack but goal missed. Another break-away from the opposition and the ball was lifted in the “D” with their striker getting a small touch on it and going in our goal. From then on they started to dominate but we kept it a draw with good saves from our keeper (James S). 1-1
Overall, a good performance but we have a few things to work on and with our full potential (that we have achieved before) we might have come back with 3 wins. I think we should be proud as we all had some pros and we all left in good moods. Well done Lilly on her tournament debut at the U-14s.