Thornton Cleveleys Tournament 12/5 - 13's

Well girls, that a long long day, meeting at 7am and by the time I dropped everyone off, and got the van back to Les' it was 7pm. I was well shattered - God knows how Phil felt, he had to go to work in the evening.

On the way down, with torrential rain and blowing a gale, I thought this is going to awful, soaking wet all day, cold, blown all over the place, but thankfully, it eased off, we got some sunshine, and all in all, it turned out to be a half decent day. Bit of a strange place for a football club with that stream running through it - I thought a tad dangerous in places, especially with little kids.

Anyway, to the tournament. I deliberately booked this event, because it was the only local 11 a-side one I could find, and I knew it would be packed with good teams - all from the Lancs League. First up was City, who we deservedly despatched 1-0 thanks to Nat's goal, and despite being a blue, that was really SWEET! City finished 5th in the league, and aren't a bad side. Next up Bolton Wanderers, runners' up in the league, gave us the run around, and to be honest, we could of lost by 4 never mind 2 - we played them onside so many times, and didn't deserve anything out of the game. Last group game was against Euxton (pronounced EXton by the way), who we brushed aside 2-0 with goals from Loz and Yoyo. This meant we were through to the Semi-final of the main competition vs. Preston North End - league champs and undefeated for over a year. We had chances at 0-0, and if we had scored, the result could of been different. However, a dubious goal in the 1st half gave PNE the lead. Possible offside as a PNE player was in Chloe W's line of site, and the ball flew into the top corner. Good goal, which stood, as the ref thought the PNE player wasn't interferring with play, and therefore, not offside. We went at them 2nd half, but were undone by a good cross and header giving Chloe no chance, and that was that.

All in all, good performance vs. quality opposition, with us playing 11 a-side for the 1st time. Clearly, work to do if you want to match Bolton and PNE, but we're not that far behind, and I'm optimistic we can continue to improve, and give them much more of a game next time we meet.

Big thanks to Les for providing the van and the gazeebo, Phil for his coaching skills, parents for their support, and most of all, the players for entertaining us. I'll leave you with the comments of Chloe Williams, whoose example I hope players and supporters alike will follow, by sending me comments and words of support, to be posted on the blogger.

Nigel.

Hia Denton jus sayin dat the tournament went well even though we didnt win but oh well not to worry we all played really well nd we had no way of coming back from 2 -0 nywayz Bye xxxx Clowii xxxx

And last but not least - a message from Phil.

Hi Girls I would like to give you a BIG Thank You for all your hard workyesterday at Thornton Cleveleys, you played really well and made it a very enjoyable tournament. Phil