WW Under 11’s Weymouth Tour
At 16.00 on Friday 4th May the U11’s squad was assembling in the Budgin’s car park at Wash Common for the trip down to Weymouth. 18 under 11’s away on tour….what had we done?
The journey down on a bank holiday Friday was everything you could have expected it to have been. The normal hour and three quarters journey turned into almost 4 hours so the arrival at Littlesea at 19:45 was much too late for the managers meeting. Having settled into the Caravan’s it was off to the sea front for a fish and chip supper with Duncan, Jesse and Albie doing a little bit of bird spotting at the same time.
With a 9:50 kick off it was away from the camp site by 9:00 and a long drive around the back streets of Weymouth trying to find the ground….thanks Jon. The two mile journey took 20 minutes but we eventually found the ground and got parked up. It was then over to pitch 6 and prepare for the games where were 20 minutes each way.
The first opposition were BTC Kestels from Southampton who had just finished runners up in their League so this would be a good test. The side lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Olly at left back and Jesse playing on the left hand side of midfield. After 7 minutes a free kick for offside was taken by the Kestrels keeper but it was won in midfield by Jesse. He played the ball forwards to Charlie on the edge of the “D” who flicked it over the defender into Albie’s path. As the keeper came out he chipped it over him only to see the ball hit the post, but Callum was there following in to put the ball into an unguarded net. The boys struggled with this formation so at half time they went back to the usual 4-5-1. In the first minute Fraser, who had come on for Callum, knocked the ball into the middle but Jesse’s flick went over the bar. With 5 minutes gone, a goal kick from William game out to Jack Bolton on the right. He hit the ball forwards where Albie got a flick on for Karl to run onto. Using Charlie as a runner in front of him he switched the ball to the right where Jesse hit it first time into the top right hand corner. With 10 minutes gone a quick defensive throw in from Olly deap in his own half found Duncan as he advanced to the half way line Albie started a run through the middle. Duncan threaded a great ball into his path cutting out the midfield player as the ball went between the full back and centre back. Albie’s initial shot from the edge of the area was saved but he easily put the rebound away for 3-0. The final goal of the game came in the 17th minute as Fraser took a through in near the corner flag. Jesse, on the 18 yard box knocked the ball back to him then sprinted towards the goal. Fraser’s chip went straight to Jesse who this time flicked the ball over the keeper and into the net for a 4-0 victory.
There was then a long wait until 13:10 for the next game against Bessingby Park Rangers from London who had beaten croft 6-1 in their first game. London teams are always tough as Bessingby were no exception. In the second minute some lovely interplay between Charlie and Ablie seemed to have been wasted but Charlie continued his run chasing the ball down and eventually winning it just outside the box. He cut into the area and whilst running across the goal was brought down for a penalty. After a long delay Albie crashed the ball home. Wickham were now in control with James having little to do and in the 13th minute Wickham doubled their lead. Jack Bolton seemed to have sliced his clearance but the ball fell to Karl in the centre circle and he flicked the ball over the defence for Olly to run onto. Just as the ball bounced for the 3rd time Olly hit a cracking dipping volley over the keeper for 2-0. Bessingby now started to come back into the game but a bad foul on Karl was not penalised which Karl objected to having a heated discussion with the ref. Jon immediately pulled him off and this gave Bessingby even more incentive to go forwards but the score remained 2-0 at half time. Disaster then stuck within the first minute of the half as neither James of Jack Bolton claimed an innocuous cross into the box and the forwarded nipped in to score. With 5 minute gone Charlie race through and as the keeper came out he was clattered from behind as his chip went over the keeper and just wide but no penalty was awarded. Bessingby were pushing hard knowing that they needed at least a draw from the game. They were creating chances but James was equal to them. With 5 minutes left Albie was brought down in the box as he was about to shoot but again no penalty was awarded. With a minute left a ball over the midfield saw Jack Bolton in front of the forward chasing back. Just as he was about to clear it he was pulled back and then fell over in front of the forward….free kick to Bessingby. The free kick went wide of the post but with time rapidly running out the goal kick was a poor one. It came back to the edge of the area where first Bart and then William failed to clear it which allowed the forward to hit a side foot shot from the edge of the box over James into the top right hand corner. There was just time for Wickham to kick off before the final whistle went. Wickham ended the day in second place in their group with a goal difference of 1 less that Bessingly.
The afternoon and early evening was free time for the boys with some “playing football” on the camp site with others going into Weymouth and a third set spending almost 2 hours in the pool. By 20:00 everyone was in the arcades playing games and attempting to win the side a team mascot. No prizes for guessing where the coaching staff were. Since the Sunday fixtures were all in the afternoon the lads had a late night but immediately went to sleep as soon as they were in bed.
After a lazy morning, again with the group split doing a variety of things around the site it was away to the ground at 13.00. Croft were the first game today who the lads had twice beaten 16-1 in the league but you could see that the Croft boys were very much up for this game with strong tackles flying in all over the place. Wickham knew that the group winner was most likely to be decided on goal difference so they had to attack. In the first minute Charlie got clear of the defender but as the keeper came out his shot just went the wrong side of the post. In the 8th minute a sweeping move from the back saw Albie race clear but again as the keeper came out the chance went just wide. Croft the had a period of almost 2 minutes of pressure but the attacks were eventually broken up by Aiden and Jack Bolton. Jack laid the ball to Albie who hit the ball up the middle for Charlie who had timed his run perfectly. As the keeper came out of the box this time the chip was perfect and found the back of the net. In the 15th minute a throw in from Bert sent Albie racing away down the right. He got past the full back and hit a deep cross over Charlie to Olly at the back post who headed the ball back across the goal and into the net. In the final minute a lovely passing move saw Karl score but he had got in front of Jesse and was correctly given off side. In the 8th minute a throw in from Albie saw Charlie beautifully turn his man and race clear. As the covering defender came across he knocked the ball into the middle for Olly to score. Unfortunately they could not convert any more chances so had to settle for a 3-0 win. Bessingby had only won 1-0 so now Wickham were 1 goal in front on goal difference
Bessingby Park’s final game kicked off some 10 minutes before Wickham so the lads would know how many goals they needed to score to go through to the final but before Wickham started Bessingby were already 3-0 up against BTC Kestrels. Although the usually players were used Albie was pushed more upfront to partner Charlie in the hope of scorer the required goals. With 8 minute of the game gone Comet Rangers had not really created a chance but Wickham had waste theirs until William to a throw in to Duncan who then sent Albie away down the left. He got past his man and this time got the ball across to Charlie to control and tap in. In the mean time Bessingby and gone in at half time 4-0 up. With 15 minutes gone the ball was worked from the right across to Olly on the left hand side and he hit his shot first time across the keeper and into the net for 2-0. So into the second half with some believe that the lads could qualify for the final. With 6 minutes gone a through ball from Jack Bolton was help on by Bert to Charlie. His shot was well saved but Fraser was there to score. The Bessingby game had now finished with a score of 6-0 so Wickham needed two more goals with their players watching the game. With 5 minutes left Karl went through the midfield sent the ball through to Albie who smacked the ball into the net. The Bessingby players were now screaming at the Comet lads to hold out. Despite a number of chances including one when the ball seemed to have crossed the line the lads could not score again and thus ended up in the 3rd-4th match play off against Pacer of Southampton.
Pace had looked a good side during the group stages but during the first half they never created a chance at all in the first half. After 12 minutes Ablie won a drop ball and sent Charlie way. He created some space and then gave the ball back to Albie who drilled it under the keeper for a 1-0 half time lead. Within the first few minutes Bert crashed a header against the cross bar from an Albie corner but then a very nasty challenge on Jack Bolton left him rolling around in pain which saw the Pace manager immediately withdraw his player from the game. This put a damper on the rest of the game but it seemed to spur Pace on a little. With 5 minutes left a throw in for Pace was won by Karl who feed the ball to William. He hit a long ball into Charlie’s run who speed clear of the defenders to tuck the ball away for a final result of 2-0.
Sunday evening saw the lads collect their trophies from Warren Barton and then back to the games room where they successfully won the mascot for next year. By 23:00 it was back to Jon’s caravan for a chat about the weekend and the Wickham trophy awards. Olly received the award for goal of the Tournament for his header in the first game against BTC Kestels although his volley against Bessingby was a close second. Player of the Tournament went to Jack Bolton for his solid defensive display. There was also an award for the player which showed most commitment throughout all the games and this went to Charlie. The final award was the Tour Entertainer. Without a shadow of a doubt this went to Colin de Fraine for his interference with a bin which was caught on Video and can be seen on the club web site.
Report by Ian Herrington
This entry was posted on 31-May-2007 at 09:31 pm and is filed under Under 11s (2006/2007). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
