U17's (2010's) through to the National Age Group Qualifiers!

U17's (2010's) through to the National Age Group Qualifiers!

What a weekend it was. Certainly one that will take a long time to forget. 

With a physical side in North London, we did not make their game as easy as they would of wanted. With the game being level after the first quarter, we thought everything was going to go our way. However, we lacked the ability to keep that performance up in the second quarter losing, which ultimately lead our side to be 8-2 down after the first half. However we did not give up, determined, we pushed on till the final whistle, winning the second half 6-5, however due to the poor second quarter from us, it saw us lose to the most physical side that we would come across over the weekend to a 13-8 loss. We now knew that we needed to win the rest of our games if we wanted to qualify, which carried a lot of pressure. 

With a good rest, we faced up against Croydon. A must win game for us if we wanted to make it to Sandwell in the next round. It would be a very hard challenge, however, we knew what we needed... Our first quarter against Croydon saw us lose 4-1. With a mountain to climb, it was going to be difficult. And with a very even second quarter, which lead to the score being 5-2, it was unsure whether we could get the result. But the main thing is we never gave up. Another dominant quarter from Croydon saw us lose the quarter 5-2, with the score being 10-4. Croydon were certain they had qualified. The start of our final quarter saw a goal from Oli on a man up after 35 seconds of the quarter been played. However, we made it very difficult for ourselves, without a goal for 2 minutes in a very short quarter of only 5 minutes. With only 2:34, Adam scored our 6th goal of the game. However Croydon felt very confident about qualification. However a quick steal and a counter attack goal from me raised the spirits high. Unfortunately, with only 1:53 left on the clock, Croydon scored. Surely we were out of the game... Or were we? A quick goal from Harry saw the score at 11-8 with only 1:35 left. After another steal from me and another counter attack goal the score found itself at 11-9 with a 1:15 left. It wasn't impossible however, it would be very difficult. Freddie scored our 6th goal of the quarter to make the score 11-10 with 52 seconds left. this was far from over. With Croydon losing the ball, this allowed us to play out a full attack, where we had to score. With 4 seconds left in our attack, the ball finds me on position 4. With a quickly drawn foul, I kicked up... And I scored with 13 seconds left. With the game almost looking almost out of reach, we took the game to 11-11. however, we had 1 defence. 1 slip tactically and we would be out of the competition. However we did not. With a miraculous comeback, we won the last quarter 7-1. I was pretty sure a lot of the crowd was on our side after this game. Now onto penalties. 

Croydon won the coin toss, which allowed them to decide if they wanted to take first or second. They decided to go first. After a good penalty from Croydon, it put pressure on us, we had to score. Adam scored his penalty which meant that we were level. Croydon were now taking. I did not want to watch the penalties, I was looking at our bench and watching their reaction, and Bram saves it. We were now level and we still had one penalty to take. Freddie swam up to take the penalty to put us in the lead, and he scored! With Croydon having to score to stay in this penalty shootout. The Croydon player scores, which means that it was all down to me. If I miss, the penalty shootout carries on, and if I score, we were one step closer to qualifying. I needed to score, you could see how much this penalty meant to everyone, as a team, we deserved the position we were in, and we took it to our advantage. With me scoring my penalty, which felt like it took a minute to score. This meant that we had beaten the team that came second in this competition 2 years ago!

We ultimately meant that we only had one game to win... Sheffield. Our local rivals. This game meant everything to us. To not only win against our rivals. But also to qualify us to the next round of the tournament that we feel we deserved to be in. This game was everything. We really struggled to quicken the pace in this game. I am not sure why, but definitely made it harder than what it needed to be. With us only scoring 1 in the first quarter and 1 in the second, without conceding. We saw us in a good position. However, none of us were happy with our performance so far. With us winning the third quarter 3-1, we were looking very comfortable. with a very dominant 5-1 display. However, in the final quarter, we finally found our rhythm, scoring 5 goals. Which ultimately lead us to a deserved 10-1 win, however, still after the game was over, we were not happy with the performance. 

There was a lot of positives to take from this weekend, with our 2 youngest outfield players both managing to score. Overall, I was pleased with the team performance. The group of lads made themselves and their families proud. There is not one negative comment that I can make about them. It was a pleasure to captain them, and play along side them, and i am sure they all enjoyed it as well. 

A big thank you to all of the players that made the journey to train with us, I know it is not an easy journey, however, as a team, there was a lot of benefits to take from this. Thank you to all of the Rotherham and Grantham lads for putting in the dedication and the effort that we needed across the weekend and in training. 

A big thank you to the coaches, without their tactical decisions I do not know how we would of performed. Without the coaches, we would not be in the position that we are in now. 

And a huge thank you from me to the parents, the atmosphere that you guys created was immaculate. Without you guys, we would not be in the position that we are in now. Thank you guys for the commitment that you have made to allow the lads as a team to train, and to play the competition. 

Now we look onto the next round. Bring on Qualifiers! 

Written by Thomas Forrest, team captain