U15’s Season Review

Raring to go after two Covid ravaged seasons, Town U15s squad had the luxury of a full uninterrupted pre season to prepare for the 2021/22 campaign. 

Friendly victories over Little Town, Kirkburton and Wombwell together with hard fought draws at Penistone and Steel City Rangers meant the boys were once again primed to play competitive football for the start of the new campaign.

The fixture bods gave us a tough opening game away at physical powerhouses Northowram. Town turning on the style with an impressive 4-2 win thanks to a Kain brace and strikes from Charlie and Jaxon.

That set the tone for the season as Town embarked on a winning run to climb to the top of the League, overcoming Queensbury home and away, Holmewood, Rastrick and Northowram again, on their journey to the summit  and defeating Kirkburton in an epic Cup encounter 4-1 after extra time.

The last game before Christmas saw the boys first defeat 4-2 at the hands of reigning Champions Westend Lions, a defeat they were soon to avenge in the first League game of the new year by the same score line.

An impressive victory at Matlock Town followed with the boys at their very best to beat high level opponents on their own patch. 

As goalkeeper Max moved on to pastures new, Sam established himself as Town’s No1. Debutante Romario an exciting mid season addition to the squad supporting Keon up front as Keon opened his account with a double to add to Luis, Luke and Charlie’s earlier goals in a memorable 5-1 win.

Our Cup campaign almost ground to a halt on the ropey pitch at second division Dalton, the boys clawing back a two goal deficit to win 3-2, new signing from Hepworth Utd Bradley making his mark with an equaliser after Luis had put us back in the game, Kain slamming home the winner to keep the Cup dream alive.

A 14-0 victory at home to Holmewood followed by a 9-1 demolition of Rastrick saw the boys at their free flowing best, Charlie hitting a double hatrick one left footed, one right footed as he found the peak of his scoring powers which would take him to 35 goals for the season, an injury at the end of the game an unfortunate consequence that haunted him for the remaining few weeks of the Season.

Town maintained top position with White Rose hot on their heels as local rivals Honley came next, eventually despatched 5-2 at Moorend, the lads once again having to dig deep for victory after trailing to two early goals. Toby and Luke leading the fightback before Luis, Lance and Romario secured the three points.

Jaxon hit the ground running to smash two goals against Queensbury in the Cup semifinal, Cameron and Charlie adding to the tally to secure a 4-1 victory and a place in the final unsurprisingly against White Rose who dashed all hopes of a Holme Valley final by hitting double figures against Hepworth Utd.

A return game derby win at Honley set up a winner takes all League finale as Towns last two fixtures were home and away to the all conquering White Rose.

The first game at the Allstars proved a game too far as our rivals ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, the return game at Moorend a different story as the boys put up a real fight Jacob heading an equaliser after an early White Rose goal but again losing out on the points to two late goals giving the visitors a vital win to effectively claim the title.

A narrow friendly defeat to Wilsden and a narrow victory at Battyford U16s provided the testing opposition in preparation for the Cup final but there was to be no revenge mission,  White Rose getting off to a blistering start to take the lead inside two minutes, eventually adding a second midway through the second half to seal the double with a 2-0 win.

A heart breaking end to a fantastic Season, the lads, under Steve and Gary’s guidance progressing rapidly from first division consolidation to mini league winners last Season to real title contenders this year and with the prospect of quality new additions to the squad for next year the future looks bright for our U16s.

At the club awards afternoon (photo above) all the boys received an award for this season’s tremendous effort with the individual awards as follows:-

Coaches Player of the year: Jacob

Players Player of the year: Luke

Parents Player of the year: Charlie 

Golden Boot: Charlie 

Top Assists: Toby and Kain joint winners.

Well done boys on a great season and a big thank you to all our parent volunteers 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏⚽️