AFC Woodham Juventus

On a warm sunny day at Saltcoats Park, AFC Woodham Juventus made their debut at the Focus Ferrers U12 Football tournament. The squad consisting of Nathan, Lewis, Ben, Charlie, Daniel, Greg and Dan strode out at 09:00 for their first game against eventual tournament winners Rayne. Rayne started strongly and scored an early goal. The boys initially struggled with the six a side game but battled hard and showed a lot of commitment but to no avail and lost 1-0.

The team had a half an hour break and tactics were discussed and ice creams were had, as the sun had just broken through the clouds above Radar Hill.

The second game was against Focus Ferrers 2. A tight first half where chances were made at both ends and Focus scored just before half time. The boys battled hard in the second half and Greg had a couple of chances well saved by the Focus keeper. With 2 minutes remaining Lewis was replaced by Ben and all out attack was the strategy. Unfortunately Focus had not read the script and scored two goals in the last minute to make the final score 3-0. The crowd went unusually quiet, not sure if it was the late goals conceded or because Charlie’s mum was too busy eating an ice cream.

Next to meet the mighty Juventus was their sister team AFC Woodham Lazio, managed by Fireman “they’re not your mates on the pitch” Brad. In a close fought game Juventus scored from a stunning free kick by Greg “ Del Piero” Flack. In the second half Lazio fought hard and equalised through Tom, who scored a good goal one on one with the keeper. The crowd again went quiet again as they expected him to hit the cross bar! A well deserved 1-1 draw for both teams.

Hatfield Peverel were the next opponents and the boys had now got into their stride with Nathan, Daniel and Lewis battling hard in the midfield. The boys were creating chances but Peverel broke away and scored the only goal of the game. The boys continued to fight but the score remained 1-0.

In the boys’ final game against Maldon Saints Bits, changes to the formation were made and Ben volunteered to go in goal. The boys again conceded an early goal but continued to fight and created many chances. The Maldon keeper made a string of saves from Dan, Charlie and Greg as the boys pressed for the equaliser but the score remained 1-0.

A good day but the results did not reflect the boys’ efforts or commitment.