Medal-winning Sils take the Plate at eight-team tournament

Five games in an action-packed tournament at Solihull School for the U12 boys this morning.
Fifteen minutes matches (one way), two pools of four teams with the top two in each going onto compete for the Shield, and the remaining four teams competing for the Plate.

Three pulsating draws (1-1 v Warwick, 0-0 v Stratford, 2-2 v Hampton) saw Sils finish third in Pool A with the highlight being the final match, where the boys fought back from 2-0 down with goals in the last four minutes, the equaliser coming with less than twenty seconds on the clock.

Victories in the Plate section (2-0 v Atherstone Adders in the semi-final , 2-1 v Warwick in the final) meant that Sils deservedly finished as Plate winners, with each of the squad picking up medals.

Great contributions from every member of the squad

Josh Bowley (GK) - arguably one of the key players, with a number of brave, confident and timely clearances in each of the matches.

Defence

Ollie - versatile, confident and provided great distribution from dead ball situations; comfortable playing in defence and midfield.
James - composed and reliable at the back; made a number of vital tackles and marked well
Dom - solid, gritty performance; like James made several key interceptions to keep opponents at bay

Midfield

Jai - dangerous down the flanks; worked hard to break the opposition down as well as set up a number of Sils attacking moves
Alex (Rooney) - strong utility player; able to switch from defence to midfield comfortably and linked well with Ollie in the centre
Alex (Delaney) - an attacking midfielder with really good close control; partnered Matthew well and created several great chances
Teghan - tireless running in midfield (takes after his brother); excellent marking and tackling in midfield; like Alex D & Ollie was unlucky not to score

Forward

Matthew - scored all of the goals, some thanks to great individual skill, others thanks to great build-up play that usually involved Ollie, Alex D, Jai and Teghan.

Well done everyone. Thanks to Darren for his usual high standard of organisation, and to Chris Mayer, Nick Rice and many others for organising and umpiring the day.

See you next Sunday at training.