The lads had a very successful day at the 'Kick it Out' sponsored tournament in North Kilworth and made it through their group and into the final with two 3-0 wins, a 1-1 draw and a 0-0 draw.
Oliver won the tournament golden boot for his fantastic run of goalscoring and to cap a really good day Junior was also presented with the 'Player of the Tournament' award by the organising committee.
Having played the other finalist already, ending level, the teams met again and our lads put in a really good performance, falling just short in a narrow 1-0 defeat. The real frustration is that this was possibly their best performance against a physically competitive opponent, who scored with a very well taken goal. It was their only shot of note on target in the match too. In comparison, Desford had carved out the better chances with Oliver twice going close and the lads looking really threatening from a number of brilliantly delivered corners by Jamie. The signs that it wasn't going to happen for us on the day came when a Desford free kick was awarded some way outside the right side of the box and Josh crashed a fabulously powerful strike that looked goalbound, only for it to strike crossbar with the keeper stranded.
Junior had taken a less familiar wide role on the day and soon found his stride, driving forward and trying to link the midfield with the strikers on a very large and energy sapping pitch. The energetic Joey and the very impressive Josh both added bite to the central midfield areas and they gave good protection to the defence. Louis had grown in confidence through the tournament, with a string of good performances at the back and he was increasingly composed in his passing out, something that was one of the highlights.
The performance was great, even though the result went the wrong way for the lads, some of who were visibly exhausted and upset at the final whistle. However, putting in a performance that they could be proud of is really what counts and it was nice that there was recognition of that for the lads and some individuals in the closing presentation and awards.
Well done lads and better luck next time - it could easily have gone the other way and the margins were so tight!