Joint 3rd in the County

The Warwickshire U10s Championships have been dominated for years by two clubs - Rugby & EW and Sutton Coldfield, with other clubs competing for the other places. However, this is not a reflection of other clubs in Warwickshire - just more of the strength of the County itself. Indeed, 2 years ago, Sils Boy came 3rd, and because another County could not get two teams to play in the Midlands round, Sils went, and finished 8th in the Midlands (out of 16). All of this goes to show that this competition is not an easy one to excel in, and this year was no exception.

The tournament finally got underway on a glorious Sunday, having been re-arranged from one of the previous snow affected weekends. 10 teams were playing, with Sils drawn in a group with Sutton, Hampton, Nuneaton and Coventry Sikh Union.

The tournament started well, with a 1-0 win over Hampton, setting them up nicely to go into their crucial second match with Sutton. Sadly, the Sutton side just had one or two more slightly experienced players, and were able to win the game (deservedly) 2-0; though not through a lack of effort by all the lads involved.

This result proved only to spur the boys on though, and they won a cracking match against Sikh Union 2-1, and record a final victory against Nuneaton 1-0; leaving them comfortably second in the group and facing the winners of the other group (predictably) Rugby & EW in the semi-final.

The semi-final was a tense affair, but Rugby shaded it 1-0, with the winner coming with only a minute to go, and so the Sils bowed out, in a very creditable third place - as high as a Sils team has finished in the last 15 years. Everyone performed well, and the side grew in stature throughout the day; it wasn't many years ago, that a Sils U10 team was losing by 6 or 7 goals to Rugby, so the improvements by all involved at the Sils are clear to see. Thanks to Christian Gregory and Sam Stephen for their support and coaching during the day.

Rugby & EW went on to beat Stratford in the final (with Stratford's star player being William Fretwell - who plays at Sils as well as Stratford), meaning that Sils had lost to the eventual winners. Rugby & EW will no doubt go on to do well in the Midlands finals again - so Sils should be very proud of having run them so close in the semi-final.

Well done lads, and thank to you parents and coaches for all their support during the day.