U11 Lions at St Francis Youth Festival of Football

The Crofton Saints Lions fielded two teams in this competition: The Blues and Whites. They were two equally matched sides: the Whites managed by Chris Smart and the Blues managed by Gary Fox. After a poor start the Blues acquitted themselves very well and narrowly missed making it an all-Crofton Final. Following last Thursday’s defeat in the U11 Challenge Cup it must have been a great disappointment to the Blues, but they can hold their heads high. Indeed, they were the only team to score four goals throughout the U11 League Competition when they defeated Romsey Village FC 4-0. Their opening draw against St Francis Rangers, when they did everything but score was crucial. They were unfortunate to come up against Crofton Saints White – the eventual winners - in their second match when they concede a couple of soft goals – one following a blatant hand-ball. Commiserations to all of those boys.
 
Crofton Saint Blue started off with a defeat and then embarked on a straight run of well-deserved wins which took them to the final against Botley Village FC - who had actually defeated them in their sixth and final league match. They too played very well. Botley Village FC were a good side, but in the final Crofton Blues were better driven on by Tommy Milchard who picked up the Man-of-the-Match award and also scored the winning goal (Tommy also scored a penalty during the leagues stages – the first penalty the boys have succeeded in converting this season! Well done Tommy). There were a number of close shaves on the Blue’s goal during the final and they did have a very late scare when a shot destined for the back of the net was brilliantly pushed over the bar by Adam playing in the blues goal. For the White’s squad this was a definite pick-up after Thursday but there is still a lot more competition to come and I believe that the coming weeks are going to be very interesting for all of the boys.
 

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Crofton Saints White     P 6    W 4    D 0    L 2    GF 7    GA 2    PTS 12

The White’s Squad: Adam, Euan, Harry, James, Max, Tommy and Scott.
A run of three straight wins was pivotal to the Blues
Scorer’s for the White’s: Tommy 6 (one penalty) Adam 2.
 
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Crofton Saints Blue       P 6    W 3    D 1    L 2    GF 8    GA 3    PTS 10

The Blue’s Squad: Baran, Benjamin, Ethan (Fox), Joe, Josh, Kai and Sam.
An opening draw against St Francis Rangers was crucial
Scorer’s for the Blues: Benjamin 1, Kai 3, and Josh 4.

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