B Team's Tournament

The B squad today was: Harley, Joseph, Dan F, Charlie B, Connor, Brandon, Sam R & Aidan.
We were in Group A along with Woodbridge, Trimley Red Devils, Kirton Kestrels and Chantry Grasshoppers.

F&W v Woodbridge

Not the easiest starts to our campaign. Woodbridge won the league this season so we knew we'd be up against it.
Woodbridge attacked from the kick off, but we soaked up the pressure and kept they're shots on goal very low. Joseph and Brandon battled well in defence, whilst Aidan, Charlie and Frenchy worked hard across the midfield. Halfway through Sam and Connor replaced Jo and Brandon.
Harley had it all to do in goals. Pulling off several top saves to keep us in the game. On one occasion he took a goal kick. It was picked up by one of their players who hit it superbly, Harley managed somehow to get back and turn it over the bar. Luckily for us Woodbridge struggled to get their corners onto the pitch today. A few moments later however the same thing happened, this time Harley couldn't get to it and we were 1-0 down.
We did manage to get into the Woodbridge half a few times but couldn't get the final shot in to trouble their keeper.
Before we knew it the game was over and we'd been very unlucky to lose it 1-0.
I think the short games caught a few teams out. 10 minutes is not a long time to get going, but if we played longer games we'd still be playing now!!

Kirton Kestrels

We haven't played our friendly rivals all season. They have won promotion so we'll see them next year.
This game started off in the worst possible fashion. We won the kick off. lost the ball immediately to a player who ran through and scored. I hadn't even had time to start my stopwatch!!
We re-started and started playing better football than we'd managed in the first game. After a spell of great passing play between Charlie, Aidan and Dan, we got the equaliser we deserved when Aidan collected a pass in the box and fired low past the keeper. 1-1.
It was a tight evenly matched game right up until the dying seconds when one of their players managed to get passed most of ours and score the winner. We kicked off and the full time whistle went straight away. Again we were very unlucky to have lost 2-1. Unfortunately we finished the game with two players in need of attention. Dan and Charlie had been tackling hard all day and both had taken strong knocks late in the game. Fortunately both were able to continue and finish the tournament.

Chantry Grasshoppers

I was a bit careless for this game. somehow I managed to lose half my team!! A big thank you to the A team players who went searching for them. At the kick off we only had 6 players reporting for duty. The 7th made it just on the whistle. Again we took kick off, lost it and were 1-0 down in the opening seconds. To be fair to Chantry they played very well and before long had taken a 3-0 lead. By this time my missing players had turned up and we were able to move players around and stopped any more goals going in. We didn't have time to get any back but started to play better football even though several players were playing out of position.
Chantry pressed forward and we managed to deal with them. At on point there was an almighty scramble in front of our goal. Harley made several saves, Brandon was tackling and blocking everyone in sight and prodigal player, Sam Reynolds, who had returned for his final games before retiring to concentrate on his golf, managed to clear two efforts off the line. A fantastic fighting end to the game.

Trimley Red Devils

Our final game(we didn't make it to the semis!) was against our other local rivals TRD. We managed to get passed the first ten seconds without conceding a goal! Which was an improvement on the last two games!!! This settled down to a very even match. We unfortunately had lost Connor due to injury after the last game. Brandon and Jo tackled superbly in defence. Both have found the knack of blocking, winning the ball then making a simple pass to one of the midfielders. Our midfielders passed the ball very well and we were unlucky not to go ahead. We just needed that little bit of luck in front of goal. After one of our attacks Trimley won the ball and broke away. They're striker got passed our defence and only had Harley to beat, as Harley came off his line he shot low into the net. We were 1-0 down. A couple of minutes later they got through again. This time Harley came flying off his line and saved bravely at the strikers feet. Trimley attacked again and fired in a powerful shot, not only did Harley save it but he even managed to hold it. Two fantastic saves that kept us in the game. It was unfortunate that these saves didn't take place on the other pitch in front of the stand, where he would have earned a massive roar!!(Like the ones Ollie got a few minutes later)
We continued to press forward with hour midfielders working very hard up and down the pitch. We got our equaliser as Charlie attacked into their box on the left. took it almost to the goal line and fired it passed the keeper at the near post from an almost impossible angle. Well done to Dan and Aiden who both got themselves into supporting positions in one of our best moves of the day.
This one finished 1-1 and our tournament was over.

Overall we were in a difficult group and were unlucky to have lost a couple of the games the way that we did. Every player gave his all and we managed to string together some nice passing moves. We tackled well with a special mention going to Charlie and Dan who were throwing themselves into everything. With the exception of the Chantry game we kept the games very tight. I hope all the boys enjoyed the day. I know I did.

Well done to Ransomes who went on and beat Kesgrave in the final 1-0. The winning goal was a fitting end to the tournament. A well taken corner, headed in. A fantastic finish.

We have Ransomes tournament on the 10 June to look forward to. We finished runners up last year. Let's see if we can go one better.

Felixstowe & Walton Utd Under 9's Tournament

Today was our turn to host a tournament. We all thought it went well, every one played as a team, worked hard for each other and did everything they were asked to do. And that was only the parents!!!
A big thank you to everyone who helped today. The day went as smoothly as it possibly could and I think created a good friendly atmosphere for all our guest teams and supporters.

I will be posting my match reports for the B team's campaign. Mark will do reports for the A team. I didn't see enough of their games to do them justice. Unfortunately we don't have any photo's this time as our resident photographer couldn't make it and I forgot to press-gang a substitute!

Thanks again and I'm sure if we all continue to get involved, in whatever way we can, it'll bode well for next season.

Felixstowe & Walton Utd V Claydon FC

As we all know this was an end of season crunch game. We needed every player to be up for this one as a defeat in the A game would save Claydon from relegation and send us down instead!

The response for the players was superb. Hard work on the training ground has paid off with the boys playing more and more as a unit. Passing, moving and supporting each other. Both games were a joy to watch.

Here's the squad all ready for the games ahead. Connor and Dan Hart are the only players missing.

A Game

Squad: Ollie Will Sam Freddie Ryan Matty Jake Jack Charlie

The game kicked off and we needed an early goal to settle the nerves. (Ours, not the boys) After a couple of minutes of Claydon attacking, we broke away with Jake getting the only goal of the game. 1-0. The game then settled down into and end to end thriller. Both teams put in a enormous amount of effort and both teams had chances to score. Luckily for us the score stayed the same.

Freddie and Ryan help Jake celebrate his goal.

We had to defend strongly. Claydon played very well and both teams were very evenly matched.

Sam, Will and Jack tackled well at the back. Supported by the flanking midfielders Matty, Ryan and Freddie who never stopped running and working the whole game.

There was no way Will was letting anyone passed without a fight. He sustained an injury later in the game after making an excellent tackle. Had he missed it there would have been three attackers through with only Ollie to beat.

Jake and Charlie both came close to extending our lead.

Claydon came very close to getting an equaliser. Ollie had to dive at a strikers feet to save a certain goal and later on made a point blank save as an attacker almost scored from a well taken corner.

Game over! An excellent finish to the season with the performances getting better and better.

We knew we were in for a hard season when the leagues were first announced. We started off with a run of tough games and had to wait until the end of November for our first win. The second half of the season saw us put together a string of results that got us out of relegation and left our fate in our own hands.

Well done to all the boys for sticking with it, never letting their heads go down and getting on with enjoying their football. With that attitude the results are sure to follow!!

B Game

This was another fantastic game to watch. It was a definite game of two halves. We lost the first only because we couldn't get our shots on target. We did everything right. We were passing moving and suporting each other brilliantly, leading to a number of chances that we just couldn't finish. Claydon brought on an A team player who I later found out missed the A game because his parents car got a puncture!! His first involvement was a run from his own half to score. We were soon 5-0 down. Aidan managed to lob the keeper after collecting his goal kick to make it 5-1 at half-time. During half time we decided to pretend the score was 0-0 again and go out and win the second half. Again we started well and passed even better than the first half. We had Luke and Joseph in defence, both played out of their skins. Joseph saving, by far his best performance for the last game and earning himself a chant from the crowd!!

Brandon, Connor and Frenchy battled well in defence and midfield, switching positions to make room for substitutions.

At the other end Charlie B found his shooting boots and got the goal he had so richly deserved for the last few weeks. Finishing off a nice passing move with Aidan and Frenchy.

Claydon equalised (went 6-2 up) but we continued to battle and try to play good football. My favourite bit of the match was hearing Frenchy call to his team mates "Play it wide, like we did in training!!" It's comforting to know that they actually take notice of what we say occassionaly!!

Aidan got his second of the day to round off his season. Charlie B after coming so close over the last few games doubled his score for the day to make the final score 6-4 to Claydon (3-1 to us in the second half) An exciting end to the season.

All ready for kick off.

Harley just couldn't get to this one. He did make some great saves and has had a terrific season

in goals.

This was Charlies best effort of the first half. This narrowly missed the post.

Aidan celebrates a fantastic lob over the keepers head that dipped perfectly into the goal.

No way through. It took several tackles to break down this attack but between them they managed it.

Charlie B cuts them off whilst Man of the Match Dan French come in to mop up.

Frenchy's tackling and running was superb as was many other players on the day, what set him apart was his reading of the game and communication on the pitch.

That's the end of another exciting seaon of football. Last season we were on a cliffhanger on the last day trying to win some medals. This time it was to avoid relegation. No boring middle of the table endings for the Young Seasiders!! I think they thoroughly deserved to stay in the top division. Next year we can go from strength to strength.

Well done to all the boys for a great season.