Year 2 Foxes at St Nick's Tournament

Sunday 31st May broke early as 13 bleary-eyed little foxes headed out to Chipping Sodbury. Despite it being half-term we managed, with a little help from Year 1, to pull together just enough players to make 2 teams for this 6-a-side tournament.  

The headlines:

"A" squad - Ludo's Team

Ludo (Capt), William LP, William W, Matthew, TJ, Josh Jarvis, Monty Nash.

Results - won 1, drew 1, lost 3.  Goalscorers - Ludo 2, Monty.

 

Ludo's team were drawn against Coombe Dingle Colts (0-3), Warmly Rangers A (0-3), Wotton Rovers A (1-2), St Nicholas Blue (0-0) and Stoke Lane B (2-0). WPF got off to a slow start but, as the scores above show, we improved as the tournament progressed, drawing and winning our final two games. The boys and parents can be proud that, despite the early results not going WPF way, the boys were 100% committed and played in a true sportsman like manner.

Every player made a valuable contribution; William LP had two of his best performances of the season to earn us a 0-0 draw and 2-0 victory; Matthew demonstrated good awareness and positional discipline in defence; Josh Jarvis never stopped running and showed a great touch with both feet; Monty Nash made a massive contribution and scored WPF's first goal of the tournament (with a goal celebration to remember!); a big thank you to William W who played well in the first two games before he had to leave for a martial arts contest; Ludo was a constant threat to the opposition showing some great dribbling skills as well scoring the winning goals in the final game; finally TJ's goal-keeping earnt him one of the WPF's Player Of the Tournament awards.

"B" squad - Henry's team
Henry (Capt), Harrison, Joseph, Josh, Jack, Felix

Results - won 3, drew 1, lost 1.  Goalscorers - Josh 3, Harrison 2, Joseph.

With no substitute and at least one player carrying an injury, Henry's team showed immense strength of character to play so well.  Against Warmley Rangers B they dominated completely. Passes flowed like fine wine (dare I say champagne?).  Only a determination by the Foxes to eschew shooting in favour of dribbling the ball over the goal-line stopped them scoring a bucket load.  In the end a fine goal from Josh settled the match 1-0.  

Against a strong Stoke Lane A team our defence was undone, even though we were never outplayed. Stoke left a player camped on our goal line and with no offsides, this cost us dearly. Despite great goal keeping by Jack, we lost 0-3.  A lesson learnt.

Wotton Rovers B were no match and again we dominated, going 2 up after excellent goals by Harrison and Josh.  Only when a 4-against-1 attack broke down did we concede a goal. But it was too late and we won comfortably 2-1.

St Nick's Reds was another good team but despite the Foxes being the stronger, our passing play stuttered.  Even so, Joseph tormented their defence and only a lot of shirt pulling and one blatant rugby-tackle kept him off the score sheet. Josh was magnificent in defence and we drew 0-0.

We saved the best 'til last. Aganst Wotton Rovers C we could easily have had 6 or 7 goals. Joseph scored the first after a great dribble; Harrison the second after hunting down a loose pass and Josh added the third with a fantastic strike.   Felix was peerless in goal, crowning a great afternoon with a fabulous save. Jack's defensive play evoked memories of Bobby Moore in his pomp and won him the WPF team's Player of the Tournament trophy. Joseph was a dribbling wizard who never gave up. Henry commanded the midfield with unquestioned authority and was always ready to track back when needed.  Josh had a great passing game and powered his way through the opposition, always looking to score.  Harrison was a constant danger with his running into space and only a foot injury stopped him scoring a hat-trick. Final result 3-0.

It was great to play both new and familiar teams in a really well run tournament. All the other teams were from big, long-established clubs, so every one of the Foxes should be proud of what they achieved. Thank you also to the parents for showing such great support. A lovely summer's day all round!