Good effort in a strong group

In a group featuring Sutton, Stratford and Hampton the U10 boys were always going to face a tough day at the Warwickshire U10s tournament. Opening against those 3 sides before the relatively easier fixtures only made it even trickier.

This said the boys started very well against an organised Stratford side dominating play and creating a few chances. Unfortunately Stratford defended well and took the lead with a break away goal. Sils continued to put pressure on but couldn’t get the equaliser before the 11 minutes were up.

Next up Sutton, 3-0 loss against the strongest team they would face all day.

Then Hampton, the local rivals getting the better of a close game with a good penalty corner routine giving them both goals in a 2-0 win.

As these 3 teams now battled it out for the semifinal places Sils had Warwick and Cov & North Warwick to play, both unable to bring a full team to the tournament meant Sils sportingly leant them players to make the game more even. Thanks to Harry and Isaac for volunteering to switch sides.

The Warwick game could have gone either way with both teams creating chances and defending well all resulting in a “thrilling 0-0 draw” as reported by our umpire to the results collector.

So into the final game of the day and whilst having played well the Sils were still chasing that first elusive goal. Wait no more, 2 minutes into the game Ben broke through the Cov defence with only their last man to beat, this he did with a neat flick over his stick and the ball rolled into the corner for a deserved lead. 5 minutes later and Dan nudged then ball through the defence towards Ben and Will. Ben got there just ahead of Will to once again work the ball past the last defender and into the goal. Cov managed a break away goal with a strike that would have beaten any U12 keeper, “where did that shot come from” heard from the sidelines.

In conclusion everyone played extremely well and a young side with many boys coming back to U10s next year (even some for years to come) learnt a lot about tournament play.

Well done boys, now your turn to have your say in the comments below if you have a minute or two...