Saturday 10th March @ Maypole FC
West Midlands County Schools’ FA League
South Birmingham 4-3 Erdington and Saltley
Team: Padraig, James, Louie, Mason, Alfie, Toby, Callam, Klechai, Cian, Tavani and Che
Goals: Cian L
Man of the Match: Cian for his excellent hat trick and for posing a constant threat to the South defence. Although a special mention for Mason who arguably had his best game of the season!
Prior to the game, we thought we were up against it. With well over half of the team being under 10s and South Birmingham one of the two stand out sides of the season (alongside Sutton Coldfield), we could have been forgiven for expecting it to be a long morning.
However our young charges raced out of the blocks and played the most breathtaking football that we’ve played all season. The first twenty minutes was genuinely amazing! Every time we got the ball we caused South Birmingham problems. Time and time again we broke the South offside trap to find ourselves in on goal. With Alfie, Toby and Callam releasing Cian as early as possible, it was left to the SS. Peter and Paul forward to slot the ball home to give us a deserved early lead.
Despite conceding a South goal soon after, the boys continued to pepper the South goal and attack with every opportunity. It was no surprise when the boys retook the lead after ten minutes, with Cian clinically finishing once again. However the third Ton goal was by far the best move of the game. Picking the ball up deep in the centre of the park, Callam released Alfie, who played Cian through on goal with a sublime first time pass, allowing Cian to slot the ball into the bottom left-hand corner and extend our lead to 3-1.
Simply breathtaking.
Now playing up hill, the lads found the second twenty a little trickier and were forced to dig deep in order to protect their lead. However with captain Toby in his usual combative form, South found it difficult to break us down. Yet despite our best efforts, South did manage to pull a goal back to leave the scoreline 3-2 to The Ton with twenty to go.
It was at this stage that the game swung in the favour of South, as Toby had to leave before the final twenty got underway. The loss of our captain certainly hit us hard during the opening minutes of the final third and South capitalised to equalise for the second time in the match. Yet once again we poured forward and showed great character when refusing to lie down and accept defeat. A number of tantalising chances went agonisingly wide, until the final minutes of the game saw South take the lead for the first time all morning.
The boys were left understandably deflated following the roller-coaster loss, even though they should have been left with nothing but pride! They were amazing. From Padraig and James leading the backline into battle, to Cian, Callam, Alfie and Toby pulling the strings in attack.
We have rarely felt so proud in defeat.
The boys were amazing! What a great advert for schools’ football!
Well done lads!
Up The Ton!
Erdington and Saltley Primary Schools' FA 