Boys Miss Out As Final Beckons

Saturday 9^th July

Birkdale United Tournament

Squad: Ciarán B, Matty, Lewis, Tom, Josh, Joe, Caleb, Danny, Adam, Seamus, Ciarán B.

They say that the summer gets shorter and shorter every year for today’s footballer – no sooner has the season ended than another tournament starts. It’s no different at Under 10 level either, as a slightly trimmed squad gathered early at Southport Rugby Club for the Birkdale United Under 10s Tournament.

With the teams split into two groups of five – after the late entry of Ormskirk – the boys were drawn against some familiar opponents in their group of 7-a-side, 15 minute matches.

First up were Hesketh Colts and the match followed what was to be a recurring theme during the morning as they dominated their opponents without having the killer instinct to finish them off. After Josh had created space to cross on the right a number of times only for the Colts to deal with the ball in and Caleb and Seamus had gone close, it was the Colts that took the lead. A generous free kick – surely it was a Colts hand that was raised? – was poorly defended and the forward glanced it home.

That was the Colts one and only chance in the game but it took a trademark power drive from Caleb soon after to bring the scores level. With an opening draw beckoning, Ciarán S was thrown up front at the death and his first touch of the ball was to steer it past the keeper from a deep kick from Ciarán B.

Next were Birkdale Falcons, familiar foes, but Ciarán S was at them from the kick off and with a bit more luck could have scored in the first ten seconds. Twinkle Toes was on target later, though, turning it past the keeper after Caleb recycled the ball but again this was an equaliser after they had dominated the game. The Falcons had gone ahead with an early penalty conceded after the boys had done the hard work in winning the ball in defence, only to fail to do the easy work and clear it.

Ladybridge had looked a polished team in their two matches and they ran the boys close in a goalless draw. Ciarán B made two good saves to deny their opponents but it was not one way traffic as Adam hit the angle of post and bar with a free kick and Seamus hit the crossbar late on, getting onto the end of a clearance from Lewis, who was giving solidity to the defence.

The final group game was against Birkdale Eagles and, needing a win to give themselves a chance of making the semi final, the boys made hard work of beating limited opponents. They never looked likely to lose, but it took a late winner from Danny, scrambled home after a couple of Seamus efforts were blocked, to see them home.

Thinking they needed an unlikely result in the Eagles denying the Falcons, the boys gathered to watch the last group match. Surely one would roll over and let the others progress but, to their credit, the match was played fairly (obviously no Austrian parents in the Eagles side) and ended as a 1-1 draw.

The boys were through to the semi finals – but not as a result of this last match. Statto hadn’t read the small print: and, with two points for a score draw, they had already progressed and Birkdale Eagles first goal of the tournament meant that the boys had won the group..

They faced Ormskirk in the semi final and once again they should have finished their opponents off. An early shot from Seamus was smothered by the keeper but Ormskirk’s best chance in normal time pulled out an unbelievable save from Ciarán B, diving late to his right to push it around the post.

Josh found plenty of space wide right as Ormskirk were pinned back but the boys could not take advantage and, with three minutes to go, Caleb almost repeated his Forefield Festival trick of scoring direct from the corner, only for the keeper to just about cling on. At the final whistle, the Ormskirk keeper again kept them in it, pushing out a shot from Adam.

Into a five minute extra time period, the boys again took the game to their opponents without causing them too many problems and were made to pay. A poor touch at the back let in the Ormskirk forward and he coolly steered it home, leaving them with little time to recover. A late Caleb free kick was punched out frantically by the Ormskirk keeper but his team's one goal was enough to defeat the boys and see them through to the final against Town Green Jags.

Having played 11-a-side since Christmas, the boys struggled to adapt to the smaller game. With some scrappy form, they finally got caught out in the semi finals when they were good enough to make the final. However, with the last tournament coming up next Sunday, they have a great chance to make amends and finish on a real high. As manager Ian told them before the semi, they know what to do and don’t need anybody shouting from the touchline – so let’s go out and do it next week, boys!