U10s at Home to Mellor and Cheadle

Stockport U10s hosted Mellor and Cheadle for a rare home outing and as we have played both teams before we knew we were in for some tough matches. What was originally a three-way turned into a four-way tournament since Mellor brought two teams and we were able to accommodate them and had two matches going on simultaneously through the morning.

Our first game was against one of the Mellor teams and we got off to a flyer with some good team play and lots of running and passing. A slightly understrength team in blue welcomed Ben Hale who made a first appearance at this level and all the boys were roared on by the home support. We gave a good account of ourselves and shaded a close match by a single goal with both keepers making some crucial saves.

Next we moved across to the other pitch and took on the other team from Mellor who were a slightly stronger outfit and it was a stiffer test for our defence than the first match.

The final game was an end-to-end affair against Cheadle who were using their larger squad to rotate players to good effect. Our team was getting tired but kept finding ways to score with some good link up between Ben and Freddie and lots of hard work in midfield from Archie. Olly and Ethan worked hard in defence to keep their attack under control for long enough to give the tired legs in midfield time to get back and help out. When they did break through Thurston stood strong in goal and made one fine save with his leg.

The goal scorers on the day (that I noted) were Ben, Freddie, Jacob and a special mention for Josh Bradbury who made a memorable start to his scoring career after picking up a good ground ball and out-pacing the cover before unleashing an unstoppable shot.

All the games were played in great spirit and the opposition coaches noted the high standard and good technique of all the boys who played.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day with setting up the pitches as well as the coaches and all those who came down to support. Also thanks to Rick and Suzi for the pictures.

All done in the right spirit

Three on one sounds like good odds to Thurston

Jacob fires one in...

... and Hugo celebrates (thanks for the support)

Fighting for the ball

Good tight defence, Olly keeping the pressure on

Ben finds some space and keeps an eye on the ball

Archie draws the defender and Ben sees where Freddie wants it

Olly juggling the ball with the opposition right behind him

Archie taking on two of them at X

Cameron giving some advice from the sidelines

Fooling them with the old two 27s trick

Spot the ball!