What an amazing weekend!
The competition started out with 14, yes, fourteen teams, for this year’s under 13 competition, but reduced to 12 with the withdrawal of the team from Herne Bay United and a team from Portugal.
In Phase 1, on Saturday, 6 of the teams played a round robin tournament at the Burwell Sports Centre, whilst the other 6 teams, which included a team from Vilassar, Spain, did the same thing at the Ross Peers Sports Centre at Soham.
Both venues had cafeteria facilities laid on, but special mention must be made of the fresh fruit kebabs and the fruitcake at Burwell on Saturday. They were delicious.
At Soham on Sunday all the teams came together for the Phase 2 play-offs and the final phase for all positions.
Twelve teams, with players aged from 7 years to 13 years, together with all the Mums, Dads and other family members, meant that the atmosphere was fantastic throughout the whole day.
For drama, suspense and emotion, two games in particular stood out.
The first was the game in the final phase between Ely B, otherwise known as the “Girls in Pink”, due to their pink playing strip, and Kings Lynn B.
The game was a draw at full-time, went to extra time with golden goal, and was still even.
It then went to penalties.
The drama and the suspense intensified but now we had the emotion as well when Kings Lynn B finished the winners 3-2.
The second was the final between Kings Lynn A and Vilassar.
The Vilassar supporters were very vocal in their support but after a bit of prompting the Kings Lynn supporters gave them a run for their money, creating an amazing atmosphere.
This continued into the extra time and then another penalty shoot out, with Vilassar finishing as Champions for 2008.
The final placings were as follows: -
12th Plymouth
11th Cottenham B
10th EC Select
9th East Grinstead
8th Ely B
7th Kings Lynn B
6th Cottenham A
5th Herne Bay
4th Ely A
3rd Bury
2nd Kings Lynn A
1st Vilassar
The top Goal-scorer award went to Josh Taylor from Kings Lynn
The Coaches, for each team taking part, voted for the following: -
The Best Player of the Tournament - Josh Taylor from Kings Lynn.
The Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament - Will Martin from Kings Lynn
Congratulations and thanks must go to all the teams taking part for providing us with great entertainment, drama and at times nail-biting suspense.
Keith Allen
