On Saturday the Under 16’s Girls played a cup match against Middlesbrough girls at home. The whole match was stressful to watch. The girls really needed to win this one, however, they started off slow whilst Middlesbrough had their head in the game from the start. The first half of the match really tested the girl’s strength and will to carry on as the Middlesbrough team swiftly and efficiently played the ball round our girls and ended the half with a 2-1 win, one of them being a penalty.

After the team talk at half time, the girls began to play proper football, with passes from every player and rewarding tackles. As a result of this the team were winning the second half 2-1, and as the whistle blew the final score was 3-3. This meant penalties were on their way. The girls lined up in fear of the result not being in our favour. This was Courtney’s time to shine. And boy she did shine! Due to Courtney’s determination the girls sprinted over to her and all screamed with joy as the penalties gave the girls a 2-1 win. They are through to the next round!

League Cup Round 2 – Billingham Synthonia 2-5 U15 Falcons

Division 3 Falcons pulled off a great performance today and marched on to the next round of the cup after beating a very good Division 2 side at the top of their division.

After going 1-0 down, Cole Harrison won a penalty and slotted it home himself to equalise. We then went 2-1 up thanks to an absolute screamer of a goal from the first half MOM Dylan Burnside that smashed into the back of the net from distance. HT 2-1 Falcons.

Second half, Cole added another 2 goals to score another cup hat trick to make it 4-1 Falcons before Synners scored to make it 4-2. In the closing stages Spencer O’Sullivan scored and sealed the game to make it 5-2 win to Aycliffe. Man of the Match: Cole Harrison. Some good Goalkeeping and defending done today and my thanks go to Joseph Gibson helped by Paul Robson for assisting me today at short notice.

Swalwell Swifts 5 – 5 U10’s

Tough game today against top of the table Swalwell Swifts. Our usual slow start and we were quickly 1-0 down. Some good passing then saw us equalise with Jake Laheney Clark forcing it home. Then we just stopped tackling and let Swalwell pass through us leaving us 4-1 down at half time. Three changes introducing Moore Swainston, Kai Thompson and Harry Tallentire and some strong words from the coaches resulted in us getting it back to 4-4 with 2 goals from Will Houlahan and one from Alex Bellwood. Swalwell then scored from a breakaway 5-4 but not to be denied we equalised through Declyn Nelson and could have snatched it at the end but could not force the ball over the line. Everyone played there part today and it was encouraging to be able to make three changes twice during the game and still look the better side. Well done everyone final score 5-5.

U9’s Eagles 2 – 2 Sunderland City Phillip.

What an absolutely fantastic match. In the first half the Eagles played the best football I have ever seen from them. Some brilliant passing from everyone. Some great interplay in midfield between Jayden, Will and Kai with Liam playing up front. A pass from Jayden to Will on the edge of the box led to Will scoring the first goal. The eagles passed it round Sunderland creating after chance. Liam was absolutely outstanding today and was a constant irritation to their defence putting them under pressure when they had the ball and frequently winning the ball for his team. He had several runs on goal and was desperately unlucky not to score as their keeper pulled off a string of fine saves. Against the run of play, Sunderland equalised. Nathan and Ollie in defence had stopped every attack, but they could do nothing about their goal.

Back came Eagles and Kai from a tight angle from Will’s throw in – 2-1 at half time and I was so impressed with the overall team performance. We continued our assault on the the Sunderland goal in the second half and Liam was so unlucky not to score. We had no subs today and I could see we were getting tired as the game progressed. Some brilliant defending again from Nathan and Jayden kept them out and Trystan made some great saves to keep us in the lead. Sunderland had a squad of 11 and they looked stronger the longer the match went on. With about 5 minutes to go Sunderland finally scored. Despite a couple more chances we just could not find the winner and it finished level at full time.

A real performance in the second but wow what a great first half! I think we saw the future here today. Well done Eagles and thank you parents for your continued support and encouragement. I enjoyed the match very much today. Sorry about the length of the post but just impressed with the performance.

MOTM was Liam who was disappointed not to score, but he shouldn’t be because it was his best game for the Eagles and I thought his effort and all round performance was top class. Well done Liam!

If you are interested in playing football and being part of our club, please visit our website where there are lots of information and also links to league tables for competitive football age groups www.nayfc.com