U9A’s Football v Aldro and St Andrews (triangular tournament)
Score: 2-1 (w) vs Aldro, 1-1 (D) vs St Andrews
As the Indian summer starts the parents flocked out to watch Amesbury in a triangular tournament against two top schools, Aldro and St Andrews.
The first game was against Aldro who with lots of strength and depth made a challenging opening game proposition. The whistle blew, the ball was passed out wide. Amesbury attacked wide, the boys flooded into the box eager for the cross. It came in offering its self to be smashed into the net. It beat all the defenders and found an Amesbury boy who volleyed it like a €200m striker would. It was phenomenal, like nothing Amesbury has seen before. The crowd half in awe and half in shock celebrated like it was a summer holiday all over again. What a start. It would have been easy for them to take their foot off the boil but they just didn’t. They kept pressuring and a long range effort from our left mid flew in bottom left. Could this be happening. Aldro 2-0 down. As the game came to a close a great strike from Aldro from a long way out got deflected in giving them some hope and reward in a tough match. Bring on the next match.
The second game against St Andrews was a new challenge. They had seen our first match and with little break between the boys were tired. It was an end to end game with both teams showing great skill. If it wasn’t for some outrageous saves by Amesbury’s keeper the game could have easily got away from us. The work rate was superb but finally a crack appeared and the boys were punished. A goal was scored down the left hand side. 1-0 St Andrews. Not satisfied by their error the boys went out bigger and harder. The team jelled and went back harder. The pressure paid off, we scored. 1-1. As the boys were on the cusp of two massive victories they some how sound another gear. They went all out, unfortunately the clock beat us.
So proud of all the boys.
Report by: Mr O’Reilly
U8B Netball v Cranleigh
Score 2-2
Lady of the match: Ella, Poppy & Alice M
The conditions were perfect for the U8’s second match of the netball season. The girls were full of enthusiasm and determination to continue their winning streak after beating Edgeborough last Thursday. The team as a whole showed a vast improvement with fast, accurate passes and looking for more space on the court to drive into, allowing the ball to move quickly and with fluidity down to the two shooters. Both shooters worked well together and made use of the opportunities to shoot by scoring two goals. Although the girls fought hard in defense the Cranleigh girls put in a strong performance in their attack meaning that they were able to pull the game back in the last quarter to make the result a two all draw. The girls should not be disappointed with this result, they showed admirable grit and determination and should look forward to their next match. Well done girls!
Miss Donaldson
U9A V Cranleigh Prep
Lost: 7-9
Lady of the match: Chloe
A fantastic netball match for the U9 netball team over at Cranleigh. From the starting whistle the girls showed enthusiasm and determination. Ysabel and Emily worked well together in the D with lots of passing, movement followed by some lovely shots. In defence Francesca caught some rebounds and then made some accurate passing down the court. Isobel worked hard as GD making some brilliant interceptions for the ball therefore regaining possession for the team. The girls really had to focus on marking their players as well as finding space when in possession of the ball. Ysabel demonstrated excellent footwork as always with lots of leaping and bounding down the court. Florence, Tamzi and Chloe continued to work with passion down the court with some excellent passing and moving in the centre court. The girls were much more vocal when calling for the ball and really starting to come together as a team. Cranleigh were matching Amesbury goal for goal and really forcing them to rise to the challenge. Amesbury showed perseverance in the match showing Cranleigh they were equally as competitive and determined. It was such a shame that they could not continue with the same level of enthusiasm in the final quarter, therefore giving Cranleigh the opportunity to score two more goals. The girls have learnt that they have to continue to work hard to the final whistle and to not give up early. A brilliant and competitive game played by all. Well done girls!
Mrs Williams
U9C VI Football vs Aldro
Score: 0-1
In the first game of the triangular tournament the Amesbury U9Cs took to the field, confident for a win. The game started well and there were some early attacking breaks. The Amesbury forwards however could not quite find the back of the net. The game became an end to end affair with some excellent tackling and defensive play from the Amesbury players which prevented Aldro scoring on several occasions. With only a few minutes of play remaining, Aldro managed to score. Amesbury did not give up and battled hard to the end however were unfortunately unable to level the score. Depsite the loss, all players showed some super grit and determination and great team spirit.
Report by: Mr Balcombe
Amesbury U9C VI Football vs St. Andrews
Score: 0-0
In their second and final game of the tournament the Amesbury U9Cs were eager to prove they could put the earlier defeat behind them and come out victorious. Despite St. Andrews having some big physical players, Amesbury were committed to every challenge and worked hard to get the ball out wide at every opportunity. They had learnt from their first game and were working hard to play a faster and more open game. This led to some great opportunities on goal but twice were denied by the post. The final score of 0-0 was only possibly because of some fantastic defensive play late in the game which denied St. Andrews scoring a winning goal.
The Amesbury U9Cs did themselves proud in a tough tournament that required them to give every ounce of effort commitment.
Report by: Mr Balcombe
U8C Football vs Lanesborough and vs St Andrews
0-0 and 2-0
It was a lovely warm and sunny day at Aldro as we turned up to play in a mini tournament
The first game was against Lanesborough and the team put in a tremendous shift putting in some lovely passing and generally being in all parts of the pitch at once. Despite this the team was unable to maximise and score a goal, with the match ending 0-0.
The second game was played against St Andrews and the team were incredibly keen to get under away, with the attitude from the first game carrying over into the second match. This quickly resulted in two goals being scored before half time. Sadly the team were unable to build upon this lead in the second half, with the score remaining 2-0.
The team played incredibly well in both games and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Mr Randall
U9 B Netball v Cranleigh B/C
Score:W 6-1
Players player: Maisy
After a windy journey to Cranleigh a good warm up was required to get ready for the match. Cranleigh had U9 A,B, and C teams and so the U9 Bs played half a match against each of Cranleigh’s B and Cs respectively.
The Amesbury girls started well with some excellent shooting allowing their efforts to be recognised on the score card. The ball moved quickly from one end to the other but interceptions from a number of the girls halted Cranleigh’s progress. Although lots of the play was good, there are still a number of things to work on, especially marking. At half time the score stood 3-0 in Amesbury’s favour.
The girls went into the second half knowing that it would be much harder as they were now playing the Cranleigh Bs. You would not have know that it was a harder team to play against as Amesbury continued in a similar vein, getting free and scoring fluently. Concentration started to wane in the last quarter and Cranleigh started to play some fluid netball. Luckily for the girls, Cranleigh could not convert their chances (despite enjoying the majority of possession) and the score finished 6-1 in Amesbury’s favour.
Miss Toynton
