Friday 10th May 2019 @ Bodymoor Heath, Aston Villa FC

Erdington and Saltley Black 0-5 South Birmingham

Team: Danny, Kian, Jeval, Rhys, Daniel, Markie, Romaeo, Callam, Kyran, Lennon, Elijah and Ethan

Man of the Match: Romaeo – continued to attack and create chances for his teammates, even at five goals down.

 

When you get beat by a better team on the night, you just have to hold your hands up and accept it. That’s exactly what happened last night. South Birmingham, as the scoreline suggests, were on form and fully deserved their victory.

However, what the scoreline fails to explain is that we were the dominant side during the opening quarter. If it wasn’t for the South keeper Spencer, who deservedly received a standing ovation during the medal ceremony, we could have been three goals clear after fifteen minutes. We attacked in numbers from the opening whistle and forced the South Birmingham shot-stopper into five class saves, as well as striking the foot of the post with a thunderous Callam strike.

Unfortunately for us, we failed to make our dominance count and once South Birmingham took the lead we simply couldn’t hang onto their coattails as they raced off into the sunset.

At the final whistle the mood amongst the lads was unexpectedly optimistic and positive. In previous defeats, the boys have taken it tough. However, yesterday they were reflective and recognised that the better team won and also what they need to do to improve in their next game. This hitherto seen levels of maturity was wonderful to witness and a huge positive to take from an otherwise difficult evening.

Well done boys!

Up The Ton!

 

Saturday 4th May 2019 @ St. Andrews, Birmingham City FC

English Schools’ FA 7-a-side Final

Team: Cory, Kian, Jeval, Romaeo, Tavani, Callam, Daniel, Kyran, Toby and Markie

Man of the Match: Daniel

D 0-0 vs. Sheffield

L 2-0 vs. Thurrock

D 0-0 vs. Plymouth

 

Seven. Sept. Sette. Seite. Sete. Hepta. Sapta. No matter how you say it, seven is not our favourite number right now.

On a day when one goal would have transformed our fortunes, we found our shooting boots thwarted by the woodwork on no less than seven occasions during our three games. Throw into the mix a few efforts cleared off the line and you start to realise it wasn’t our day.

At the start of the finals, we said that we needed to walk away without any regrets and this is exactly what we did. While we might not of achieved our target of lifting the national title, we know we gave it our very best. We worked tirelessly as a team but simply didn’t have any luck. There was nothing more that we could have done. Nothing. For that reason, we have no regrets.

Superb performances against Plymouth and Sheffield would have yielded at least six goals on another day – more than enough to progress out of the group. Alas, despite peppering both goals, we walked away with zero next to our name in the goals scored column.

Even in our solitary defeat to Thurrock, we played well for large parts and yes, you’ve guessed it, we hit the post through a thunderous Markie strike with the scores at 0-0.

Tales of each performance are littered with stories of hard luck, yet one thing was clear, we were not out of our depth and on another day could have achieved so much more. As it is, we reached the national final of the ESFA 7-a-side after lifting the Birmingham and West Midlands titles and navigating our way through the Midlands round. We made history just by being there. We have had an amazing season and done so much to be proud of.

The boys were superb and we are all so proud of them!

Well done boys.

Up The Ton!

Wednesday 1st May 2019 @ Vale Stadium, Castle Vale

BPSFA Cup Qualifying

Black Team: Danny, Kian, Romaeo, Jeval, Toby, Daniel, Callam, Kyran, Micah and Markie

Goals: Kian, Toby, Callam and Markie

Man of the Match: Toby

W 1-0 Aston

W 1-0 Sutton Coldfield

W 2-1 South Birmingham

BPSFA Summer Cup

Gold Team: Corey, Jude, Wiktor, Gonzalo, Oscar, Kian, Keon, Jason, Joshua, Lennon and Kayden

Goals: Lennon x 2, Jason

Man of the Match: Lennon

D 0-0 East Birmingham

W 1-0 Aston

W 2-0 South

L 1-0 Sutton

 

Well that wasn’t a bad night was it?

On the same night that the black team qualified for the final of the BPSFA Chris Smith Cup, the gold team brought their season to an end by lifting the BPSFA Summer Cup to cap a fine campaign and make it a double of titles.

In a scrappy opening encounter, the black team took all three points against a rejuvenated Aston side thanks to a speculative long distance strike from Kian.

With confidence visibly on the rise, the boys beat Sutton Coldfield thanks to another long distance free kick from Toby. If our goal against Aston required a slice of luck, this goal was all about power and pace and left the imperious Sutton keeper with no chance.

Despite picking up maximum points from their opening two games, the boys knew they were far from their best. While they were determined to put this right against South Birmingham in their closing match, the boys fell behind after conceding their first and only goal of the night. This was enough of a shock to startle the boys into action, with both Markie and Callam scoring spectacular goals in quick succession to earn another three points and maintain the side’s 100% record.

With the black team through to the Chris Smith final, the gold team were making their own waves as they charged towards their second title of the season. Despite opening with a blank against East Birmingham, the boys continued to play attractive, free flowing football in their second game of the night and were rewarded with a sweetly struck Lennon strike.

The fourth game saw the lads hit top form, with Jason scoring a gem of a goal to finish off another free flowing team move. From front to back, the boys in gold gave the kind of team performance befitting a first place finish. With Gonzalo control things at the back despite playing in an unaccustomed position, Jason and Keon had licence to run riot out wide and Lennon the freedom to stride forward from his central position. It was through the latter that we doubled our lead and with it, took the three points and top spot in the table.

Going into the last game we knew a point would be enough to secure the crown. However, we were unable to match the great heights of our previous two games and lost to Sutton Coldfield by a solitary goal. Fortunately for us, this wasn’t enough to prevent us from lifting the trophy at the end of what was a highly successful evening!

As the gold team’s season draws to a close, we would like to say a huge well done to the lads for their attitude and application throughout the whole campaign. The boys have played some impressive football and shown a great team spirit since day one. No where was this better illustrated than the attitude of the older year 6 lads. With the majority of the gold team year 4 and 5, the support and guidance of Kian, Wiktor, Elijah, Kyran et al was significant in everything that we achieved.

Well done boys!

What a season!

Up The Ton!

 

Saturday 13th April 2019 @ Vale Stadium, Castle Vale

Erdington and Saltley vs Walsall FC

Representative Game

 

Team: Danny, Kian S, Jeval, Ethan, Romaeo, Markie, Tavani, Josh, Kyran, Kayden, Uzi and Oscar

 

 

On a chilly spring morning at the home of BPSFA, Vale Stadium, Walsall FC under 10s visited for an entertaining encounter that brought goals, skills and lots of fun.

A mixture of under 9s, 10s and 11s battled it out with the talented boys of Walsall academy in a game of end to end excitement.

So successful was the morning, that we will almost certainly repeat the game in the near future.

Well done boys! You did us proud!

Up The Ton!