Key news and reports: 28/29 MARCH
SHOOTOUT DRAMAS IN 9s AND 10s COULTON SEMIS
It was a cold blustery day for the Coulton Cup semi finals at Bourne Rd in Thornton where both our 9s and 10s were involved and what drama there was. Our 9s won the A game 3-2 against Fleetwood Town but lost the B match 1-0 so a penalty shootout had to decide the outcome which unfortunately our boys lost. Immediately afterwards our 10s took on Thornton and after the A game had ended in a goalless stalemate the B contest finished all square as well at 2-2 so another penalty drama took place. This time it was our boys who were successful and three Ryans where instrumental in this success. Ryan Hadley bagged both goals in the B game, both were set up by the outstanding Ryan White and in the shootout, Ryan Faulkner saved three Thornton spot kicks.TITLE SETBACKS FOR 18s AND 14s GIRLSGOAL SPREES FOR 14s AND 11s GIRLS
Sunday was a lovely sunny day proving just how unpredictable our weather can be. There were no games in the afternoon at Seafield but two of our teams had morning matches there and both suffered setbacks to their title ambitions. Our 18s were seriously depleted with five players all unavailable for the visit of Burscough. We were 1-2 down with 15 minutes remaining and down to 10 men also after Max Rothwell had a premature end to his game due to a head injury. However, we snatched a 2-2 draw when Rick Horrocks, making his first appearance after a 6-month injury lay off, blasted home a spot kick. On the next pitch though, our Under 14s girls lost their unbeaten record with a 3-2 defeat to Rossendale Rangers after surrendering a 2-1 lead. Over at Fleetwood Town in the afternoon our 12s only had 11 players available but with a battling display by our boys and a double strike from Russell Townsend we came home with an impressive 2-1 victory. Our 14s were at Wyre Juniors where five goals by Ryan Allan helped us to a convincing 10-1 victory. For the second game running our 16s faced Blackpool Rangers, this time at the Bispham Gala Field and as in the previous encounter we were beaten by an odd goal, this time 2-1.
GOAL GALORE FOR GIRLSAlthough it wasn’t a good day for our 14s Girls it was for our 11s Girls as they went goal crazy at Accrington against AGSA. We came home with a mammoth 19-3 victory, Laurel North and Georgia Rose bagging four goals apiece with Niamh Hendry weighing-in with a hat trick. Our Open Age Ladies notched up their biggest win of the season 7-1 at Salford, Louise Gibbon claiming two of our goals.
