MATCH REPORT

U12 Tournament  8^th January 2017

What a delight, Long Sutton entered not one, not two but three teams into the latest U12 tournament hosted by Spalding.  It was a positively balmy day as the weather was kind and we had plenty of support from parents and grandparents.  It was a fantastic opportunity for the counties young umpires to continue their development and a glorious spectacle of young players having fun.

The A team started their campaign well and dominated their early games.  They passed the ball smoothly and confidently and at times had the luxury of time on their hands to make sure of their pass.  The core of this team has been together for a number of seasons now and the familiarity of Norey, East, Roberts and Dodd is quite evident.  Neale has slotted in seamlessly and Gilbert and Woodrow are settling in to their positions and gaining confidence every match.  Webb in goal had a great tournament and thwarted a number of attempts on goal.  The team went on to win their first four games 2-0 and looked unbeatable.  Spalding Lions finally broke the mould but Long Sutton still came away with the victory 1-0.  It was their last game that was to be the toughest and required a considerable amount of steel and determination as they went behind to Bourne Deeping dragons, the only team to score against them all tournament.  The game went down to the wire as Sutton equalised in the last hit of the game.  This secured their position as winners of League 1.

Meanwhile in league 2 we had two teams playing.  The ever growing junior section of the club meant that we were able to enter a third team in this tournament .  The experienced players made up the spine of the newest team to support those taking part in their first tournament and both teams had a cracker of a tournament.  The B team went on a winning spree from the off with three straight wins.  M Hoyles and Markillie linked well in attack again and were given plenty of opportunities to attack the goal by the penetrating passes from the back by A. Hoyles whose tackling and determination to get back and protect his keeper was phenomenal.  Taylor and D Simpson worked hard around the pitch and D.Simpson released his trademark wallop at short corners more than once while J.Simpson was yet again always there to clear up and rebuild as necessary.  Coley had little to do in goal to start with but was called into action against Louth a tight game that could have gone either way it went against Sutton and they recorded a 2-1 loss.  They picked themselves up though and held the next game to a draw going on to win their final game against their fellow Sutton team 2-0 who were unlucky not to convert themselves. A great tournament that saw them finish 2^nd in the league.

The final team in the tournament was made up of a core of experienced players in J.Smith as captain whose awesome tackling skills halted many attackers in the D before they even got to Braginton.  If they did get that far they soon found out Braginton likes to go on the charge! Commanding the midfield were B.Hales and Burton.  It was great to see how quickly the team gelled together having held their first match to a goaless draw the team grew in confidence and the newest members of the team L.Hoyles, A.Norey, E.Hales and Ja.Smith listened to their team mates and were soon working together to record their first win of 2-1 with goals coming from B.Hales and Burton.  The team went from strength to strength with Norey, J Smith and Braginton working superbly together and everyone running their socks off to support each other.  At the end of the day they came away with three draws, two losses and a win to finish fourth in League 2.  An amazing finish for a first tournament together.

Thanks as always go to family and coaches as support crew but predominantly to the players who made the day such a pleasure.