BSYL U9s Autumn Trophy Final - Year 4 Foxes Strike Gold

The BSYL U9s Autumn Trophy Final pitted us against a Shire Colts team who had stormed through their group, scoring goals galore in securing three wins from three.   In contrast, after a promising away win by the Weston Super Mare seaside, the Foxes had relied upon a last minute equaliser direct from a corner to secure their place in this showpiece event.  Its fair to say that the boys travelled more in hope than expectation although the coaches were quietly confident.


After losing the toss, Foxes kicked off downhill but were soon undone by a superb Shire move with the ball behind clinically despatched at the back post past a helpless Charlie.   For a moment it appeared that the boys might be out of their depth but roared on by a large Foxes support, they gradually gained a foothold.   As the half progressed, the tide changed and soon it was Foxes rolling down the hill and creating chance after chance.   Monty and Morgan were keeping the defence organised and with Elliot driving forward, shots by Eden, Matt and Omar flew wide or were well saved.  However, it took a moment of bravery by Cosmo coming off the line, to keep us in the game as we were caught on the counter. 


As the half drew to a close, Foxes gained their deserved equaliser when the lively Omar wriggled between two defenders on the edge of the box and poked the ball past the oncoming goalkeeper into the net.


Needing to play up the slope in the second half, the half time team talk was about discipline and belief and the boys went back out and straight back on the attack.   Soon the ball was being passed around (yes, you've read that correctly) and came back to Eden on the edge of the box.  Captain for the day, Eden crashed a shot over the Shire keeper and into the roof of the net to give us the lead.


The final fifteen minutes were a lesson to us all.   Rather than taking confidence from their lead, the situation seemed to overwhelm our boys.  Four years of "mark up" and "goal side" went out the window and the boys pressed the panic button, chasing the ball in packs like they were back in reception again.


Encouragement (ok, let's be honest, yelling from the coaches and parents) reminded the boys to get back in defence as Shire laid siege to our goal.  Tremendous midfield work by Elliot in support of lone-striker Cos helped ease the blood pressure on the side-lines but soon Morgan, Ambrose and Jacob were needing to tackle and chase to keep the lead intact.  Special mention to Ambrose who defended like a giant against Shire's striker who played so far forward he was almost standing on our goalkeeper's toes.


Great saves from Omar, a crazy goal mouth scramble when one Shire Colt was shut out by four Foxes on the goal-line, a shot wide, a shot against the post and a header against the bar made the last few minutes tricky for the watching faithful but finally the ref put his whistle to his mouth and the gold medals were ours!


Well done to the Shire boys who deserved an equaliser for their second half efforts and on another day would have got at least that.  But this was the Foxes day.


1-0 down, 2-1 up, Year 4 Foxes had won the cup!