U11s in Early Season Success!

Following a disappointing but not disheartening friendly defeat 24 hours earlier the U11s had an early opportunity to redeem themselves at the annual Haddenham Youth Nine a Side Tournament.

Playing in a round robin group with Blue Division colleagues Aylesbury FC, Crendon Corinthians, Haddenham Youth and Prestwood Colts and Green Division (the league above) side Risborough Rangers Colts it was a great opportunity to gain nine a side experience against teams we will be meeting in the league in the coming months.

Playing the same system they had played in their previous two nine a side friendlies the boys' group campaign (5x15 minute games) was nothing short of superb as they finished with a record of played 5, won 4, drawn 1, lost 0, goals for 6, goals against 1 to win the group having gained an impressive 13 points out of the 15 available.

Having qualified for the final in first place we took on second placed Crendon Corinthians in the final with the duration of the final being extended to 15 minutes each way rather than a straight 15 minutes.

Our first half performance was excellent and we came in at half time with a two goal lead. A touch of complacency set it during the first 5-10 minutes of the second half as Crendon piled on the pressure looking to get themselves back in the game but thanks to some resolute defending, some excellent goalkeeping and the woodwork deciding it was an Aylesbury United supporter we held firm and added a further three goals as Crendon tired to secure overall victory in the tournament.

Squad - Oliver Foster (GK), Andrew Carr (C), Joshua Harrison (VC), Ben Philbey, Charlie Davis, Nathan Bosworth, Jacob Oliver, Igor Chrzanowski, Joshua Cotton, Kaelin Shaw, Elliott Behan & James Gibson.

Manager Lee commented after the tournament:

"I felt we didn't do ourselves justice against Bucks CC on Saturday morning and made silly mistakes which cost us a result however it would appear the boys were simply getting those mistakes out of their system in preparation for the real competitive stuff this morning! I knew that we were capable of getting results against some of the opposition we faced but to win the tournament with such authority was beyond my wildest expectations. I knew we had a capable squad but they were more than that this morning - they were absolutely brilliant! And to think we have 3 or 4 players in the squad who didn't play this morning who could have easily done so indicates that we have real strength in depth heading into the new season."

The U11s kick off their SBMSC U11 Blue Division season with an 'away' trip to Aylesbury FC this Sunday, 10.30 kick off at Haywood Way.