On Saturday we hosted our second year 8 and younger tournament of the season. Last time we looked very rusty and unfit but this time the boys were ready and raring to go. Due to a number of late cry offs we only had one team entered instead of our normal two.

Dan in goal, Ollie Thompson,  Jake,  James and Ben Wall, Dan Taylor, Joseph, Dylan, Finn and last but by no means least William completed the squad.

First up were Telford who has beaten us last time, but we dominated from start to finish, the only issue being the number of open goals we missed. Thankfully, Dan Taylor put one in to eventually secure a 1-0 victory.

Streetley were next and again we dominated with Jake scoring a super individual goal, finishing with a shot on the half volley. Joseph secured the 2-0 victory by slotting the ball in nicely past their keeper.

Then we faced our local rivals. First Finchfield who beat us last time met a very determined Old Wulfs who restricted finches to two breakaways in the whole game repelled by Dan in goal with Ollie and James helping with a goal line clearance to maintain our run of clean sheets.  At the other end, a dominant performance saw us net 3 times – two for Dan Taylor and one for Joseph. We also hit the post from a slick short corner.

Wolverhampton were then put to the sword 6-0 with William tapping in to open the scoring. Dan Taylor bagged a hat trick with Joseph and James completing the scoring.

Last up we faced a quality Bromsgrove team who had beaten us by 6 clear goals last time. Both teams had won all their previous games on the day, and what followed was a high quality, very exciting game.

We knew from before that marking in our D was crucial and the game was well balanced.  Bromsgrove hit a fast high ball into the D which, had we been marking, would have been a free hit but their free striker deflected superbly into the roof of the net.

We narrowly missed equalising when Dan Taylor's effort was rolling past the far post, a diving Ben Wall could only deflect onto the frame of the goal. Bromsgrove took a 2-0 lead even though Dan saved the first shot well, but Bromsgrove reacted first to tuck in another.

Normally at this point heads go down but Joseph and Dan Taylor produced some fantastic play to lift the team’s spirits. Dan smashed a goal in from the top of the D and then that was quickly followed by a fabulous Dan Taylor run and shot allowing Joseph to sweep in the rebound for 2-2. Joseph then broke through a couple more times and so nearly scored.

Late on we conceded a free hit which was quickly taken and found a Bromsgrove player free in the middle of the D who miss-hit his shot into the ground and then bounced high into the net above Dan. A very unlucky way to lose 3-2 but a massive improvement on last time A brilliant final performance in a game enjoyed by all who watched.