Key news and reports: WEEKEND 10 / 11th JANUARY
STUNNING COUNTY CUP WIN BY 18s
The Friday night prior to this weekend was the coldest of winter so far with the temperature plunging to minus 6C. It should have been the 1st round of the PDP 7-A-Side League’s Coulton Cup competitions on the Saturday morning but when we woke up it was white everywhere and it was obvious that there would be no chance of any game being played. Two dozen Football League games were also frozen off including Blackpool FC’s game against Birmingham City and not a single ball was kicked anywhere on the Fylde Coast that day.
Fortunately, Sunday was much milder and all scheduled games went ahead although a very blustery wind made conditions rather difficult. On the Sunday morning our 18s took on Burscough in the quarter finals of Lancs FA Cup at Seafield, a tie previously postponed twice due to the weather. Despite the conditions though our boys put on a superb display of football and recorded a stunning 8-0 victory, the outstanding Sam Turnock bagging five of our goals. On the next pitch our 14s Girls were also in cup action, a NVL tie against Woodbank and what a thriller this turned out to be. Twice we took the lead but twice the visitors levelled which sent the tie into extra time. It looked like a penalty shoot out was going to have to settle the issue until Sasha Wozniak smashed the ball home in the last minute, her second of the game, to give us a dramatic 3-2 win.
The wind strengthened in the afternoon which made even more difficult and unpleasant for all concerned. Our 12s were involved in a top-table clash with South Shore at the Co-op Sports ground in Marton where we led through a Russell Townsend strike until the closing minutes when Shore bagged an equaliser. A 1-1 draw though was a fair result to a superb game which was a credit to junior football. Our 11s also faced a high-riding Shore outfit at Seafield where we overcame the elements to notch up a fine 3-0 victory. Two of our teams were at Fishers Field in Hogan Cup 1st round ties both against Foxhall. Our 14s were held to a goalless draw at the break before were ran out 3-0 winners with an excellent 2nd half display but our 16s were a little below par in their game and suffered a 2-0 defeat.
