Key news and reports: WEEKEND 24/25 OCTOBER
GUTSY DRAW BY DEPLETED 11s
This was not a pleasant weekend for either playing or watching football with a strong blustery wind blowing in off the sea accompanied by frequent squally showers. With the clocks going back an hour this weekend as well, it felt that winter had really arrived.
Sunday was the worst of the two days with conditions for football extremely difficult and I spent a few hours at Seafield very well wrapped up. At midday our 13s entertained Hawcoat Park from Barrow in the 4th round of the County Cup. With the wind behind us in the 1st half we took a 2-0 lead into the break and although the visitors pulled a goal back after the restart we added another to secure a place in the last 16 with a 3-1 victory. Half term family holidays caused our 11s to be severely depleted against Thornton and we could only muster up 10 players but with a real gutsy display we earned an excellent 2-2 draw. On the senior pitch our 15s entertained neighbours and old rivals Lytham Juniors in a top-table clash and it was the visitors who clinched victory. Lytham took full advantage of the gale behind them in the 1st half to take a 4-1 interval lead but despite dominating the 2nd period we only managed to score once more and the visitors hung on for a 4-2 win. Over at Thornton our 12 had to really dig-in hard to maintain their 100% record. We took advantage of the elements in the 1st half to lead 3-0 at the break. It was obviously tougher for us in the 2nd half but even after Thornton pulled a goal back we still continued to create a host of chances and whenever the home team did threaten great defensive resilience by our boys helped us to clinch a 3-1 victory.
7-A-SIDEOn the Saturday, our 10s retained top-spot with a maximum 6-point haul at Poulton Youth despite four players being away on holiday with 3-0 and 1-0 victories but at Seafield our 9s had to settle for just a share of the points with Poulton. A double strike by Reece Cowell helped us to a 3-0 A game win but the visitors snatched a 1-0 victory in the B game with a last minute goal. In a friendly fixture at Ansdell our 8s recorded excellent 7-3 and 7-2 victories over Lytham Juniors, Jacob Taylor bagging four goals in the A game with Tyler Bland also netting four times in the B contest.
