Under 10s Tournament report by Mandy Naughton.

 

The new 2007/08 Under 10s teams represented the club in the tournament's Under 10s section, playing four 5-a-side matches against Darwen, Euxton A and B and Burnley FC.

 

Not only new to playing as a team together, the girls also went into unfamiliar territory of playing 5-a-side on Astro-turf, against teams that have played together last season.

 

First match against Euxton B gave the girls a flying start.  Bury broke with pace and took the lead with three goals in the space of the first few minutes.  Excellent goals by Mio and Simone.

 

We were wary of the second match against Burnley, knowing they were unbeaten in the league last season, but only for an unfortunate penalty awarded to them (remember 5-a-side rules on Astro-turf) could have probably held them to a draw.

 

Our third match against Darwen Rangers was a difficult one, as they brought the game to us, forcing Tessa to make some great saves.  Again the rules of the game made play difficult, but without a doubt Darwen had an excellent third match against us.

 

The last match against Euxton A should have been a Bury win, with most of the possession and several chances at goal going astray.  A slight change of formation gave us little more flexibility and we were very close on several occasions.  Well done to Louise, Simone and Sammy who we moved forward for this match, for staying in there and not giving up.

 

This tournament showed we really do have the makings of our team for Under 10s for next season.  We have a strong nucleus of girls who played together last season and our new players are looking like a natural fit to the gaps left by those moving to Under 11s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under 11s Tournament report by Diana Golding

 

Again having to take an Under 11s team to an Under 12s tournament always poses some difficulties as the girls know some of the opposition are potentially next years under 13s or 14s.  With different playing rules and 5-a-side pitches the girls were just going to give it their best shot.  The team were also without regular Goal Keeper Melissa who has been in net all last season for us.

 

The first game was against Inter Mill Hill B, the girls quickly took the game to them knowing they had beat this team in the league last season.  Bury took the lead and with only 10 minutes playing time made it very difficult for Inter Mill Hill to come back at us. 

 

Having watched Bleak Hill beat Euxton girls in their opening game Bury knew if they were to win against Bleak Hill in the next game they would win their league and go through to the semi-final.  However, it wasn't to be, Bleak Hill was a very good side of older girls.  The match was end to end and both teams had to work very hard.  Bleak Hill were lucky to get a goal and went on to win 1-0.

 

The third match was against Euxton Girls, Bury had left themselves with the difficult task of having to win in order to come 2nd in the league and proceed to the semi-finals.  Both teams had won one and lost one so had everything to play for.  Bury started well but were struggling to hit the target.  A very slow game compared to the first two, Bury kept on trying and finally broke the Euxton defence to come out 1-0 winners.

 

Coming 2nd in the league meant Bury had to play the winners of the other under 12s league, Lytham St Annes.  Lytham hadn't been beaten all morning and had the advantage of an older team.  The instruction to the girls was give it all you've got for 10 minutes.  As expected Lytham immediately brought the game to Bury and quickly took a 2-0 lead, with 10 minutes playing time you would expect it to be game over at this stage.  Not when you play against Bury its not.  Bury girls dug deep and made a couple of substitutions to try and upset Lytham's play.  The girls fought hard and Lytham gave them a direct free kick right outside the penalty area, which Holly kindly converted to a goal, this lifted the girls even further and were soon back on a level footing at 2-2.  The draw remained at the end of full time and the girls then had to play a further 3 minutes of extra time.  Unfortunately just before this was over Lytham managed to score and the game ended 3-2.

 

Well done to Hannah, Holly, Abbie, Charlotte, Louise, Lauren and Kimberli you all played great and Bury Girls are proud of you.  A special thanks to Louise, Holly and Lauren for taking turns in the net.