Another fantastic 4 days for football!
This year over 60 teams attended the Sky Blues 11 a-side tournament which took place over the first 2 weekends in August; teams from Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Sussex & Leicestershire were in attendance making it the biggest and best yet!
Last weekend saw age groups U11 - U13 (11's & 12's on Saturday, 13's on Sunday).
The standard was very high throughout the weekend and this was complimented by a high turnout in terms of parents and spectators.
The under 11's was an exceptional contest between 12 teams, producing some extremely exciting and skilful football, however only 2 teams can ever make it through what was a very tough set of opponents to make it to the final. The final was played off between Greenfields Youth (Bournemouth) and Christchurch; and having seen plenty of long distance shooting from both teams expected more to come. The final was no disappointment as both teams played end to end football, sometimes throwing caution to the wind in their efforts to win. Finally Greenfields Youth managed to produce that winning effort and came out on top, although it has to be said that Christchurch put up a marvellous battle to make it a memorable match indeed.
The under 12's although not sporting quite as many teams as the under 11's displayed much of the same in terms of drive to win, all teams involved gave their all to make the final, with Boscombe Albion (Bournemouth) and AFC Wolves eventually winning through. The U12's final was a see-saw event with both teams pressing to try to gain that advantage however by the final whistle neither was able to break the others resolve to win so the match went down to a penalty shoot out. After several nail biting minutes AFC Wolves triumphed 9-8 on penalties although credit must be given to Boscombe Albion for giving it their all.
In the U13's category 12 teams battled it out, with teams from Brighton, Leicester, Gosport, Portsmouth, Bournemouth & Southampton taking part. Once again the standard of play was exceptional with very little to choose between any of the teams and some very exciting play in all areas of the park, but as always there has to be a winner and the final turned out to be an absolute cracker between Moneyfields of Portsmouth and Wetstone of Leicester. Having already played several games each to reach the final, neither team showed signs of giving up to fatigue. Wetstone struck first to make it 1-0 with an excellent headed goal, however before long Moneyfields pressure produced an equaliser. In the final quarter of the game both teams had given their all and a scrambled goal led to the winner for Moneyfields 2-1. A most hard fought final to finish off what was a superb weekend of football!
On the second weekend we saw play from the Under 14's & 15's sections, with several very strong teams in attendance, Winsor, Aldershot, Havant & Waterlooville to mention a few.
In the U14's final Havant & Waterlooville met Gosport Borough, with Havant proving to be just too strong for the lads from Gosport, running out eventual winners by a margin of 3-0.
Sunday saw the Under 15's in action, and after both semi-finals had been decided on penalty shoot outs the teams making it to the final were Winsor and Bishops Waltham Dynamos 'A'. The final turned out to be a very even affair, with very few chances at either end, as both teams battled to gain the upper hand. However as often happens in the game, lady luck played her part and a speculative cross/shot took a deflection and the result was decided....Winsor winning by a goal to nil.
Winsor are the first team to do the double, by winning last years Under 14's and this years Under 15's. Well done Winsor.
Sky Blues would like to take the opportunity thank the many parents, relatives, players, managers & coaches that contributed towards making this such an excellent event and we look forwards to seeing you next summer at the Sky Blues 11 a-side tournament 2010, which with your help we hope will be even bigger and better...
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