Westwood Park Football Club

Robertswood Rangers, Saturday 14th May – U9 section

Team: Luca Perrin (Captain), Charles Davies, Sam Lee (Sub Aaron King for 2 games), Gabriel Jones, Christian Grint, Arjan Bhui (sub Joe Day for 1 game), Daniel & Toby Bradshaw

This is an annual tournament that is held on cup final day by our friendly neighbours from Robertswood Rangers football club. I did not attend this tournament last year but only heard good things about it. And I was not going to be disappointed this year.

We were entered into the under 9 section as the under 8’s had a full complement of teams and the hosts felt that we were a club who could field a squad capable of holding their own in higher age company. Due to a late drop out through illness, we did field one under 9 player, Luca Perrin (on the day his beloved Manchester City were to win their first trophy for 35 years), which as you will find out proved to be invaluable.

All coaches were welcomed by the section referee who explained the ethos for the day was for the kids to have a fun day in a friendly environment without any over competitiveness. This was understood and carried out by most of the teams in our group.

The first game was against the hosts who had some good players especially the girl in the number 12 shirt. As usual it took us time to get going but with some lovely passing we soon got going and it wasn’t long before Luca slotted one home. The whole team played well working the ball from defence to the front.

The second game was against the only other under 8 team in this group, Chalfont Wasps. They were a good team that were unlucky not to score when a scorching shot hit the bar and bounced down and landed on/over the line; reminiscent of Frank Lampard against Germany in the World Cup, the ref decided the ball had not crossed the line. Daniel was in goal for this game and did well; on more than one occasion bravely diving at the feet of onrushing forwards to smother the ball. He was well protected generally by Arjan and Gabriel in defence. Good midfield performances from Luca (who scored twice), Charles and Christian with Toby troubling their defence withpowerful runs through the midfield

In the third game we came up against a strong side Chalfont St Peter (CSP). Charles, Arjan and Gabriel worked well in defence, held their positions and pushed up when required. Luca controlled the game from midfield with good support from Sam and Toby. Christian played well up front and was unlucky not to score. Unfortunately CSP scored late on. The next two games were going to be the toughest ones. We played the first of two Chesham sides who were well organised. We again played a fantastic passing game and worked well pushing forward but also came back to defend. The second last game against St James was to prove a physical game and a long ball one (them not us). By this time Aaron King had joined the team as Sam was injured. He played well up front which I think could be his preferred position. We held our own until the last kick of the game.

In our last game against the second Chesham team I told the boys to go out and just enjoy themselves and, if they could, score a few goals. Why did I not say this from the start as Luca, Daniel and Christian all scored. Joe Day played for us in this game as Arjan had to leave before the end. Joe played well, fitted in and had a great game.

What a great tournament this was and what a fantastic team I had the pleasure to work with. The icing on the cake was when, at the presentations, one of our players, Charles Davies, was selected as Player of the Tournament for the Under 9s.

Thanks boys

Paul