Year 2 Foxes Romp at Rockleaze 14 June

On a glorious sunny Sunday, another early start heralded a day of fabulous football.

The Rockleaze Tournament is one of the toughest on the calendar. It drew strong teams from near and far. We could enter only one team to play just 4 matches. For our U7s the knock-out tournament was replaced by a smaller, 7-a-side round-robin "festival of football". 

The Squad - Eddie, Felix, Harrison, Henry, Jack, Jago, Joseph, Josh, Matthew.

The first match saw the Foxes get off to a flying start.  Against unfamiliar opposition from Bromley Heath, the Foxes played beautiful football. Fluid running, silky skills, determined tackling and exceptional passing helped the Foxes dominate completely.  Henry opened the scoring with a great strike after Jago's pin-point pass.  Harrison added a second from a Jago free-kick. Then Henry made an unstoppable run down the right before crossing for Harrison to drill home his second. Our fourth goal came as Jago went on a mazy run. Strong support helped draw the defence before Jago finished off in style.  Great tackling by Josh, Matthew and Jack helped Felix keep a superb clean sheet.  A missed chance in front of an open goal could have put us even further ahead but everyone was delighted with the win - 4:0.

Next up, Rockleaze Rangers Blue.  Again the Foxes dominated with some great movement and solid defence.  Jack made a fabulous save to keep out one the few chances that fell to Rockleaze.  In the end our skill won through.  Like a fledgling Ronaldo,  Joseph picked up the ball on the right and attacked the Rockleaze defence with pace and control. He finished a brilliant individual run with a great strike.  Foxes won 1:0.

Ashley Down, confident after beating us 0:5 in a "friendly" earlier in the season, were next. Despite facing some very rough defensive tactics the Foxes played brilliantly.  A push on Joseph and a cynical hack on Jago could (some thought should) have led to two penalties for the Foxes. They weren't given and in the end weren't needed. Henry opened the scoring.  Joseph added a second after another dazzling dribble.  A third goal came when Harrison latched on to a lovely cross from Joseph.  Josh, Jack and Matthew were immense in defence and only a quirky bounce eluded Felix to break his clean-sheet record. A fine win, 3:1.

Eddie, delayed after a camper-van breakdown, arrived in time to bolster our defence for the final game against Rockleaze Rangers Red.  An hour's break in the sun between matches halted our momentum. In the first half we dominated completely but could not score.  Poor clearances by the RR keeper were met with surprise and 3 or 4 easy chances went begging. In contrast, a rare defensive slip allowed Rockleaze their only real chance of the game. They scored. The Foxes were a goal down for the first time all day. But their character shone through as they put Rockleaze "under the cosh" (to quote their coach). After a succession of corners Jago eventually found Harrison and he found the back of the net. Only the final whistle prevented an inevitable winner. We had to settle for a dominant draw, 1:1.

The unbeaten Foxes finished top of their group. Man of the Match award - Josh for all round skills and superb defensive play.

It was a complete team effort. wonderful and enthralling in equal measure, and always played in a sporting manner.  A proud day. Brilliant!