Saturday 14th January 2017 @ Heartlands Academy

Daniel Sturridge Cup 2017 – Fixture week 2

 

A Team: Gerard, Tyrese, Tiarno, Taylor, Kian B, Danny, Che, William, Blessing, Resharne, Reece and Aidan

B Team: Gerard, Tyrese, Jaiy, Telpher, Patrick, Navaro, Bobby, Jeval, James and Aaron

 

A Team Results:

L 1-0 vs. Sutton Coldfield

W 2-0 vs. Wolverhampton

W 9-2 vs. East Birmingham

 

B Team Results:

W 3-1 vs. South Birmingham

D 0-0 vs. Aston

Scorers:

Man of the match: James and Blessing; both boys put in commanding defensive displays. James’ was one of bravery and strength, whilst Blessing’s more attacking and composed. Both boys gave their teams a solid foundation upon which the rest of the team could attack, safe in the knowledge that their defence had their back!

On a bitterly cold and wet morning the boys brought a bit of sunshine to the hearts of the frozen masses in attendance at Heartlands Academy. As parents and family members shivered on the sidelines, the boys played exciting attacking football as if they were popping the ball around on a sun-drenched Brazilian beach. From start to finish they did us proud!

The B Team consisted exclusively of under 10s players and they stood up brilliantly to the challenge of competing against boys a year older than them. Refusing to be out muscled by  their bigger and stronger opponents, the boys went toe-to-toe with them, as perfectly illustrated by James in defence who time and time again bravely won his one-on-one battles against South and Aston players.

In goal, both Tyrese and Gerard pulled off a couple of outstanding saves apiece. The added competition is clearly having a positive impact on both players, as over the past two weeks their performances have moved up to another level. Brilliant!

In midfield, Jaiy continued his fine goal scoring form, arriving late in the box on a number of occasions to claim a brace of goals against South Birmingham.

Later in the morning the A team belied the fact that a number of players were absent by dominating their encounter against Sutton Coldfield from the first to last whistle. However despite peppering the Sutton goal throughout the game, the lads lost 1-0 to a counter attack and were left frustrated and contemplating what could have been had they taken just one of their chances.

Next up was Wolverhampton and despite making five changes to the starting lineup, the boys continued where they left off in the Sutton game. The composure with which they passed the ball around was great to see! William popped up with a quality finish, to match the one that he tucked away earlier in the day against South B.

Finally the lads put on a show against East Birmingham, who it must be noted scored a couple of sensational goals of their own! Up front Che brought his teammates into played expertly, whilst the rest of the lads bombed forward at every opportunity, always looking to go for goal.

They were rewarded with the biggest victory of the morning but it wasn’t enough to stop the lads from slipping from the top of the league with two weeks of fixtures left to play. Over the past two weeks the boys have lost two games 1-0, both loses coming after dominant displays. I am 100% certain that they’ll learn from this and continue to grow!

Well done boys! You did us proud!

Up The Ton!