Under 8s brave the wind in Edgbaston

On a cold and windy morning so turned out 8 hardy players as above and in picture.

Format variable depending on opposition numbers meant we played twice with 7 and twice with 6.

The contingent from Sutton looked particularly strong with something like 20 players for their 2 sides and plentiful on the coaching front!!.

Informing the Old Sills contingent (parents and players) that our sole aim here was to score a goal and anything more would be a bonus and that regardless of results everyone would be guaranteed something from the “goodie” bag served to be a good incentive even for the less fortunate injured player (more on that later).

So to the hockey . Assuming we would have a nice bedding in period by playing the Sutton B side proved to be foolhardy on the coaching front as that team ended up "receiving" the largest tub of Heroes at the end! Sutton B proved to be a very strong opposition with a couple of players making the difference in the first game along with some generous umpiring which allowed Sutton to take control of this game. Our rigid 232 formation rapidly became either a 070 , 700 or 007 formation! Shouts from the side of "let's spread out" became common place and the one about "hit the ball forward not sideways" was a valuable adage that led to the score eventually being 0-3. This was the game where our first injury victim succumbed to a hit on the leg (Elizabeth King).

With not long before we were due to be on the pitch again playing again Sutton A, a sense of trepidation filled the coach but the smiles on the old Sils players and that on Elizabeth soon allayed that fear. With renewed vigour she was ready for the fight on the 2nd game only to get a hand injury that effectively ended her day. A true stalwart she was that after a few tears she was head cheer leader of the parents for the rest of the day and stayed to the bitter end , injured hand intact enough to devour something from the goodie bag at the conclusion of proceedings.

On the pitch the 2nd game proved to be a defensive masterclass with the now adopted 007 formation proving to be particularly effective against what proved to be not as good an opposition as their B side. That said we were much improved on the “spreading out” and the sending of the ball forward instead of sideways did indeed mean we had the odd foray into the opposition half which was sadly missing in the first game. A special mention for Evie Hastings who indeed proved (and I hope to not be saying this when she is much older) , a “taste for the tackle” and her mum did indeed mention to her that maybe defence is the position for her. The effort put into this game was immense and we did only concede 2 very scrappy goals in the end so the result very much in doubt for a lot of the game.

After a bit of a break and encouragement that we were indeed going in the right direction with our play and general willingness to listen and try the things we were being told, we took to the field against Harborne. Random drug testing may have highlighted some Russian ancestry for William Fretnell as he was now displaying road runner type tendencies! In this game he was everywhere. There was not a formation I could fit him into. From nearly scoring at one end of the pitch , he made a tackle in the right side of defence position and he really did prove the old saying that true hard work rewards you as his near miss and general play in this game proved to be the catalyst for the last game(more on that later). This game really proved to be the opposite of the 2nd game and Old Sill were encamped in the opposition half. Chance after chance came and went. Sadly the one chance that Harborne had in this game resulted in the only goal and it was one where the smallest player on the pitch took the ball from near his goal all the way to ours before slotting in. It was not a true reflection of the dominance Old Sills were enjoying. The other enjoyable thing in this game was there was not a hint of disappointment or anything from anyone when told they were not starting the game and also when I started making a host of substitutions, Naomi,Anna,Annah and Lottie rotated in this and it was a credit that the changes were done efficiently and one of them even said “excuse me sir which position am I supposed to be going to play?”.How groovy is that??!! In the end a disappointing loss given the play but very encouraging that each game we were playing better and better.

The final game was one against the hosts Edgbaston and a fairly even contest. Notable goal line clearances from Ruben and Evie, good efforts from Annah,Anna and Lottie in the keenly contested and congested middle of the park and in the end a Naomi “punt” forwards resulted in a “melee” in the area (someone told me the Rugby world cup has just finished!) , and our road runner William had several attempts at putting the ball into the net before scrambling it in. A well deserved goal for Old Sills and got the loudest cheer of the day from coach and parents alike. At this point I must mention the parents who were a credit as they were the most vociferous of support staff at the venue! The game continued and having not been in this position Old sills did not know whether to continue going for it or sit on their lead with a 007 formation. In the indecision (poor coaching!) , the one Edgbaston attack where Old Sills had committed all players forward including our defence, resulted in the one “goal hanger” Edgbaston had adopted and he scored to make it 1-1. Shortly after came the shrill of the whistle indicating the end of the game and Old Sills were denied what would have been a deserved win.

In the end all 4 games showed that we improved our play and effort each game and on another day could have resulted in 2 wins! All the players enjoyed their day as did I and I hope so did the parents and we look forward to another day in the howling wind and rain!