Frank Rourke's Report from Formby Junior Sports Club

Nearly all Formby Junior Sports Club’s football was focused on Deansgate Lane on Sunday morning. There was plenty of exciting action in all the matches played and many very interesting stories to report. FJSC Under 8 Reds won their first competitive match. A new FJSC Under 9/10 team played their first ever match. There were two club derby matches played as FJSC Under 8 Whites played FJSC Under 8 Blacks and FJSC Under 11 Whites were in action at lunchtime against FJSC Under 11 Blacks. Also braving the dreadful weather in Thornton was the FJSC Under 6 team. Well done to all the boys who played in the matches on Sunday despite the near Arctic conditions, for putting on a great show of football and at the same time thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The day before Storm Arwen caused all the Saturdays matches and Inter Club sessions to be cancelled.

REPRESENTATIVE TEAM MATCHES

FJSC Under 8 Reds started slowly with Southport Athletic Whites taking an early lead. The Reds worked hard to get back into the game and just before half time Joel Craven scored the equaliser with a coolly taken goal which was also Joel’s first ever competitive goal as well.

There followed an outstanding second half performance from the FJSC Reds. The team seemed to move up a gear and scored a further four goals without reply to record their first victory of the campaign. The goal scorers for the Reds in the second half were Zac McHugh and James Hannan with two goals each. The other highlights for the FJSC Under 8 Reds included good direct attacking play from Jenson Gray and a strong battling performance from Joel Wright. Also playing their part in this very good team performance were Tom Murphy, Mason Todd and Isaac Pepper. Man of the match was Joel Craven. It was also great to see these very happy boys go on a lap of honour.

FJSC’s combined Under 9/Under 10 team played their first ever match. FJSC Under 9 Whites kindly used their entire squad to field two teams. Half the squad played against the FJSC Under 9/10 team whilst the other half of the squad played Crosby Stuart.

FJSC Under 9/10’s playing together for the first time started the match very well with Ralph Renton scoring with a powerful shot. The new team surpassed all expectations with some very good passing. The Under 9 Whites started to string together some attacks but found the 9/10’s defence of Ben Harris, Dylan Hyslop and Sylvan O’Hara difficult to penetrate. Gregory Houghton and Zac Hooson- Jones for the Whites were very lively but first half goalkeeper for the 9/10’s Harry Ball made some good saves. Midway through the first half the alert Max Brown scored for the 9/10’s to double the lead. Further attacks saw left winger Lucas Lewis create more opportunities including one which Max Brown scored from.

In the second half FJSC Whites began to put more pressure on the 9/10’s with Jacob Davies very prominent. However Noah Bate ,now in goal, made a number of important saves as the slippery ball zipped dangerously off the very wet grass. Some very determined midfield play by George Rowan and tireless running from Jonathon Youd -Keates which nearly brought him a goal helped the Under 9/10’s regain control of the game. Sylvan O’Hara completed the scoring for the 9/10’s late on with a well struck shot. It was a very impressive first outing for the new FJSC Under 9/10 team and also an extremely good team performance from the younger FJSC Under 9 Whites team. See photograph above of the new FJSC Under 9/10 team with their team managers Jarlath O’Hara and Dan Brown.

FJSC Under 9 Whites were also in action against Crosby Stuart in an end to end game which could have gone either way. Congratulations to man of the match Noah Lace who had an excellent game in defence and also to Isaac Jones who scored a goal on his Representative team debut.

The Under 11s derby match saw the Blacks take on the Whites where hats, gloves and thermals were very much the order for the day for the spectators as the temperature plummeted. The first half saw the Blacks take control as they played some excellent football and the opening goal came from a penalty as Ollie Dean was fouled in the box and Thomas Donnelly converted the spot kick. Henry Renton then finished well with a shot into the far corner of the goal, before Thomas Donnelly added a third and his second of the match just before half time.

The second half brought about a change in fortunes. The Whites mounted a courageous comeback and scored two quick fire goals with long range efforts from Sami Abdelhamid and Niall Brennan. Despite the challenges of the weather both teams continued to work hard and competed well and whilst it looked like the Blacks were going to hold on for a win, the Whites broke forward late on and Sami Abdelhamid was on target again with the equaliser. This was a very entertaining game and very much a match of two halves. The high scoring draw was just right as both teams gave everything. It was a very good advert for the standard of football at FJSC. The man of the match for FJSC Blacks was Charlie Knowles.

The other FJSC derby was between the Under 8 Blacks and FJSC Under 8 Whites. It was a very exciting first half with the Whites taking their chances to lead 2 nil at half time with goals from Diego Funes-Cervera. It would have been three goals up only for a Harrison Hughes penalty save. Just like the Under 11’s match the team trailing at half time came back in the second half. After a brilliant piece of skill to lose his defender Jack Williams launched a ferocious shot into the top corner of the Whites net from the left side of the box. There was some determined Blacks defending from Oliver Hall- Gleeson, Finn McDerby and Ryan Lamb and more heroic saves from Harrison Hughes to stop the Whites increasing their lead. With eight minutes remaining the Blacks scored the equaliser with a hard shot from Joseph Kenyon.

It was then a thrilling end to end match for the last few minutes as both teams came close to scoring the winner. Honours were even and everyone taking part can be proud of their efforts.

The very young FJSC Under 6 team players were not going to be put off by a little bit of bad weather and again enjoyed themselves playing on an artificial playing surface against ESC in Thornton. Scoring FJSC’s goals were Jacob Givin and Beau Brodrick. Also playing well in the match were Harrison Weir, Oliver Parrish, Finley Duffin and Rory Roberts .

INTER CLUB ARRANGEMENTS FOR SATURDAY 4TH DECEMBER AT DEANSGATE LANE PLAYING FIELDS

YEAR 4/5. 9.30 am

YEAR 6/7. 9.45 am

RECEPTION. 10.45 am

YEAR 1. 10.45 am

YEAR 2. 11.15 am

YEAR 3. 11.15 am

NEM MEMBERS IN ALL AGE GROUPS ARE WELCOME.

In the event of bad weather, if sessions are cancelled a message will be placed in the News Section on the Club Website, Twitter and Facebook. Parents can also tel. 01704 873238 to hear a message on the club telephone .

With the weather now getting colder it is recommended that the boys wear warmer clothing for the coaching sessions and matches.