The opening game of the day is the penultimate tournament of the season was against
Finch Wood Academy who were top of the league. It was an intense 12 minute match
where we dominated possession and demonstrated some great link up play between
Stephen, Jake and Charlie. The opening goal was scored by Jake 5 minutes into the
game with a great through ball by Stephen to put us 1-0 up. Finch Wood then started
attacking and Isaac was called into action, making some fantastic saves on his
goalkeeping debut. Unfortunately Finch Wood equalised, however Newbridge showed
a positive attitude and another through ball by Stephen was capitalised on again by
Jake to give Newbridge a 2-1 lead with only a few minutes to go. Despite our best
efforts, Finch Wood were awarded a free kick which they scored from to make the
game end a 2-2 draw. Overall, a fantastic result for Newbridge against a team who
look set to win the league this season.
The 2nd game was against Kilgarth Blue and the key message from Finlay and I was
about maintaining a positive attitude throughout. Newbridge started well with some
creative link up play between Stephen, Jake and Charlie. This was rewarded when
Jake played a quick pass into Stephen which he reacted to and placed in the bottom
left hand corner to put us 1-0 up. Then Macaulay showed good composure in defence,
playing the ball through to Charlie who assisted Stephen for his second goal of the
game. Unfortunately for Newbridge, Kilgarth responded quickly to make it a 2-1 with
an unstoppable strike past Isaac and with 2 minutes to go, a deflected strike from
Kilgarth looped up in the air and ended up going past Isaac to make the score 2-2 at
full time. The key words again were positive attitude as the lads started to let their
heads drop after the result, however a draw against 2nd place is still a strong result.
The final game was against Cloughwood Blue who were 3rd in the league. We’d been
deserving of a win, so it was hoped that if the lads played with a positive attitude that
we’d get our first victory of the day. Newbridge started the game very well with
Charlie playing through balls on to Stephen and Jake who were testing their
goalkeeper early on. Our constant attacking was rewarded when Stephen scored the
opening goal from close range to make it 1-0. From here it was all our attack from
Newbridge and clinical finishes into the bottom corners of the goal from Jake and
Stephen took us to a 3-0 lead. Then from about 20 yards out Stephen had a free kick
which flew into the top left hand corner in what will be a goal of the season contender
to give Newbridge a 4-0 lead. Braidon made a fantastic tackle in defence to stop 3
Cloughwood players getting past him with the ball and managed to find Charlie for
his 2nd goal of the game and to put Newbridge 5-0 up. Stephen then added to score to
make it 6-0 near the end in what was his hat trick in this game.
Overall, these were 3 positive results against the top 3 teams in the league in what was
the penultimate tournament of the season. Like Finlay and I have said to the team all
season, the KS3 team had the potential to win every match in this league but it all
comes down to their attitudes. When the team all are encouraging and not quibbling
and criticising each other, that is when the best football is being played, and when the
victories come.
Players of the Tournament:
Stephen- brilliant leader of the team, showed a positive attitude throughout and scored
5 goals.
Isaac- First time playing as a goalkeeper and made some fantastic saves, and was a big
reason why we stayed unbeaten.
Thanks again to Finlay for his coaching support and the final tournament for the KS3
team is in 4 weeks time with the final KS4 tournament taking place on Wednesday
15th May.