Whitton Tournament

We were invited to take part in the first Whitton Football Festival. It was a 5 a side tournament played on a league basis, with the top team taking the trophy.


We could only take a squad of 7 to this one so places were tight. The squad was as follows-

Ollie S
Matty
Sam
Will
Freddie
Keiran
Jack


These were the lads who had practised our 5 a side tactics in training and it seemed to pay off. Not only did we win it but I think we won it in style!! I'm not biased. Honest.

Here we are with one game to go and have found out we have won the trophy.

Big smiles all round.

Another bit of silverware for the mantlepiece!!













I'll give a brief round-up of the days events.

The teams were-

Whitton Utd A
Whitton Utd B
Whitton Sports A (This confused us all day!!)
Whitton Sports B
Claydon
Brantham Athletic
Felixstowe & Walton Utd

Brantham

The games were a decent 6 minutes each half. Long enough to have a good game. We pressed forward and were unlucky not to get a goal. Ollie didn't have a save to make.
The second half kicked off an we continued our passing and moving game. A lovely move involving Jack, Keiran and Freddie finished with Freddie scoring the only goal of the game.

1-0 We were off to a winning start.

Whitton Sports A

Once again our passing play kept us in the opposition half, with only the occassional break to deal with. Ollie was playing as a sweeper with most of his touches being outside the box.
Our first goal came from Matty's corner, the keeper palmed the ball down and Jack pounced to put us 1-0 up.
Later on some great passing play between Kieran and Matty led to Matty's first goal of the day. 2-0 the final score.

Whitton Utd B

Next up was Keiran's old team. Again we dominated and put the opposition under pressure. They defended well but as is usually the case' the player who has just left you pops up and scores against you!! Keiran got his goal which proved to be the winner. 1-0.

Claydon

This was a top of the table clash. Claydon had also won all of their games but were ahead of us on goal difference by 2 goals. We needed a win more than them.
This was a great game to watch. End to end stuff. both teams passing and battling well. Ollie had to make a couple of tackles outside the box as they broke quickly. At one point Ollie tackled their striker and chased the ball, slide tackling their player on the half way line. they took the throw and passed it down the right to their striker who had been banging them in all day. He hit a superb shot with power and accuracy which fully deserved a goal. Only to see Ollie, who had just about made it back to his goal, launch himself at full stretch and save it. The crowd, all of whom were on their feet, went mad. We pushed forward again. The ball was flying about in their crowded area when Will hit a lovely volley passed the keeper to break the deadlock. 1-0. A few minutes later Freddie scored to make it 2-0. With a two goal cushion we only had to hold on for an important win. Unfortunately a defensive mix up between two players (I won't name them, but one of them pulled of a terrific save and the other scored a volley) let Claydon score into an empty net from 2 inches out. We held out for a nerve racking few minutes. 2-1 the final score.

We went to the top of the league with 2 games to go.

Whitton Utd A

Claydon played Brantham in the game before this one. After leading 1-0 for most of the game, Brantham Equalised with the last kick of the ball. It meant a win against Whitton would make us overall winners with a game in hand. This explains the unusually large cheer from our camp when Brantham scored!!!

We dominated this game so much that I was convinced we were never going to score!! I'm a bit blurry on the details as the pressure was clearly getting to me!! Finally Matty found the net and the game ended 1-0.

We were the Champions with a game left. See the beaming smiles in the photo above!

Whitton Sports B

This was our show-boating finale. I've lost track of the details but Matty scored 2, Freddie scored 2 and Will got 1 to make it 5-0. In the dying seconds we were awarded a free kick just outside their box. Sam our stalwart defender came up and banged it low through a crowd of players to make the final score 6-0. A great end to a superb day.


The stats read as follows-

Played 6, Won 6, For 13, Against 1, Points 18

Scorers-

Matty 4
Freddie 4
Will 2
Keiran 1
Jack 1
Sam 1

This meant everyone of our outfield players got on the scoresheet. With only 1 dodgy goal conceded. a fantastic record.

Roll next season!!

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