Young Ton Team Defeat St. Albans under 11s is entertaining game

Saturday 24th February 2018 @ Heartlands Academy, Nechells

Erdington and Saltley 2 – 1 St. Albans

Team: Padraig, James, Mason, Ethan, Owen, Rhys, Callam, Klechai, Jeval, Oliver, Romaoe and Alfie

Scorers: Romaoe and own goal

Man of the Match: James – A rock in the heart of our defence

On a bright but cold morning in Nechells, St. Albans came to town for their first ever visit to the home of The Ton.

The opening twenty minutes was all about the boys from The Ton, as they dominated the opening proceedings to play some eye-catching passing football. The unity of boys was their biggest strength, as the midfield and attack linked up beautifully to carve open the St. Alban’s defence on numerous occasions. One such time led to the opening goal, with Klechai’s shot being stabbed home by a St. Albans player.

Minutes later the boys doubled their lead with a breathtaking team effort of neat, short, intricate passing and a lethal finish from Romaoe, who was making his debut for the under 11s. The two goal lead was no more than they deserved from the opening ten minutes, although the lads were arguably a little disappointed not to have scored more.

Following the first break in play, the St. Albans lads burst out of the traps and looked an altogether different team. Pressing high up the pitch, the boys in blue would not allow us to settle on the ball and dominated the middle third of the game, scoring a deserved goal to halve the deficit.

The final third of the game saw more chances come and go for The Ton, with Alfie crashing a free kick off the crossbar and Callam, Mason and Romaoe going close on a number of occasions.

At the back, James was a rock in defence, mentoring u9s Ethan and U10s Rhys and Owen throughout the match. If James was controlling things in defence, Padraig was cool and composed in between the sticks, distributing the ball with greater control than ever before.

Overall it was a great result for a team made up largely of under 10s and a great morning of football.

Thank you to St. Albans for travelling north and contributing to this great game. We look forward to our return visit in September.