Boys U11 take Silver at Guildford Tournament
By Jenny Ashworth
The Surbiton U11 Boys played brilliantly in pouring rain at Broadwater School on Sunday. The team of Angus, Elliot, Ollie, Ethan, David, Sam and Dylan with Thomas in goal, played seven pool games with a new to them “Power Play” format which replaced short corners in this well organised tournament for year 6s.
Surbiton started off well with a convincing 3-0 victory against Guildford Buccaneers, following that up with three more goals to beat Havant 3-0. A tight game against Winchester followed, losing 1-0 with an unfortunate break catching the Surbiton defence unawares. They then played the Guildford Meteors who at that point were top of the table, with the GKs at each end performing outstandingly to end in a goalless draw.
Going into the fifth game, Surbiton were fourth in the table, securing a move up to third with a 4-0 victory against OC Blues.
The next game was against Woking and was a much-needed win to maintain the bronze position as Woking were fourth in the table. It was a very close game with Surbiton scoring two before Woking got one past Thomas just before the final whistle ended.
Safe in the knowledge of our table position, Surbiton took on a keeperless OC Reds with a 5-0 win, finding themselves ending the pool games in second place!
A gold medal play off ensued, with Surbiton against the only team that had defeated them – Winchester. Sadly, history repeated itself and they couldn’t hold the attack off, losing 1-0. However, Surbiton took away a well-deserved silver medal and went home to dry out!
Big thanks to our two coaches who encouraged and inspired the boys throughout, taking on coaching and umpiring duties cheerfully despite the weather!