U11 S. Anselm’s Primary Schools 6-a-side Tournament

The U-11 “A” team had an improving afternoon at this annual tournament until a disappointing finish. There were three groups of four teams taking part. In our first match we played Brampton “C” and dominated without playing very well for a 6-0 victory. Unfortunately many more chances were spurned and at the time it wasn’t apparent just how much this would matter. Ultimately it was to cost us a place in the semi-finals and very possibly the final itself.

In the second match of the group stage we played Hunloke Park who presented a stern challenge. The game was even and hard-fought but neither team could force a goal and 0-0 was a fair result. The third group match saw our best performance, beating a decent Matlock Bath team 3-0. It meant that the group was delicately poised; we and Hunloke Park both had 7 points and a goal difference of +9. One more goal against Brampton “C” would have made us group winners.

The significance of this only became apparent when another of the three groups also saw two teams tied on seven points. Both the teams had better goal differences than us or Hunloke Park. Unfortunately, the format of the competition was such that the three group winners plus the best runner-up went into the semi-finals. That left us and Hunloke Park to have a penalty shoot-out to decide the fourth semi-finalist (I do hope that anyone reading this is paying full attention and so understanding the situation. If not, please return to the start and read it properly. You may be tested at a later date). Anyway, the penalty shoot-out was not a success from our point-of-view. Hunloke scored one of their three penalties; we missed all three, not managing one that was hard, low and on-target.

Hunloke then deservedly won their semi-final but lost to Brampton “A” in the final. Our boys had battled well through the afternoon, all earning some credit, but perhaps most deserving of the man-of-the-match award was Harvey for his dominant performances in midfield. A special word also for Tom who defended ferociously and Jonah, a goalkeeper who didn’t concede a goal in normal play yet found himself out of the tournament.
MJS.