Liverpool and District 14&Under Tournament
There were 5 teams that entered the tournament which was played at Birkenhead’s Europa pool:
Chester, Liverpool, Southport, Bridgefield, Warrington
Each match was 2 x 5 minutes with a stopping clock.
Warrington vs Chester
Half 1 Warrington started quickly with a goal from a Dominic bounce shot. Katie stole the ball to set up Dan for a goal. The Chester keeper did a good save from Dan. Ben stole the ball to swim in and score to make the score 3-0. Ben scored another goal and then Dan scored. Marcus set up Ben for a goal. Conor stole the ball and passed to Ben to score. Marcus passed to Conor who passed on to Dominic who scored. Dan set up Ben for a goal to make the half end score 9-0.
Half 2 Warrington were on the attack from the start and Dan scored after 30 seconds. Conor passed to Marcus who had a shot well saved by the Chester keeper. Brett passed to Marcus, who this time put the ball past the keeper. Luke noticed Emma on the break, he did a long pass from which you swam in to score. Dominic passed to Katie who scored. Chester did some good defensive play to stop a Warrington attack. Katie and Eleanor did some good play which led up to Dominic having a shot, which hit the bar. Dominic and Brett did some good defensive work to retrieve the ball. Eleanor passed to Emma, who hit the bar with a shot. Ben scored near the end to make the final score 14-0.
Team
Luke Atkinson, Ben Dailey (6), Conor Lynch, Dominic Richard (2), Emma Horne (1), Dan Farini (3), Katie Bowater (1), Brett Takemoto, Alfie Shelley, Eleanor Brear, Marcus Woods (1)
Warrington vs Southport
Half 1 Dominic scored early with a bounce shot. Katie did some good defensive work to stop a shot. Conor passed to Dominic who scored. The third goal was a great team goal that ended with Dan passing to Dominic to score. Dominic was then provider passing to Conor who scored with a bounce shot. Southport were on the attack, Eleanor did some good defensive work to break up the move. Southport continued attacking and had a good shot saved with Luke pushing the ball on to the bar. Luke quickly passed up the pool to Dominic who set up Ben for a goal. Marcus and Dominic did some good defensive work putting pressure on a Southport player to get possession back. Luke saved a shot and then passed it up to Ben, Brett moved away from the goal taking the one defender away allowing Ben the space to score. Southport did some good play to keep possession, before Alfie intercepted a pass and passed the ball back to Luke. Luke passed to Eleanor, who passed on to Katie who passed to Ben to score. The half ended 7-0.
Half 2 Alfie had a good exchange of passes with Conor and then shot just over. Alfie then passed to Marcus who just shot over. Alfie was then the provider setting up Emma to score. Conor stole the ball and swam in and pushed the ball over the keeper. Ben scored to make the score 10-0. Ben scored with a good lob shot after receiving the ball from a long pass from Luke. Katie was the provider for a Dominic goal. Ben passed to Emma to score. There were only a couple of seconds left when Luke shot from his goal and it bounced just in front of the Southport goal and into the goal. The final score was 14-0.
Team
Luke Atkinson (1), Ben Dailey (5), Conor Lynch (2), Dominic Richard (4), Emma Horne (2), Dan Farini, Katie Bowater, Brett Takemoto, Alfie Shelley, Eleanor Brear, Marcus Woods
Warrington vs Liverpool
Dan Farini had played for Liverpool in earlier matches and he decided that he wanted to play for them against his own club. Traitor or mercenary? Make up your own mind.
Half 1 Ben hit the bar with an early shot. Conor passed to Alfie who scored with a great low shot between the near post and the keeper. Emma and Brett had a one two and Emma shot, which was saved by the Liverpool keeper. Emma passed to Brett to score. Conor passed to Ben to Dominic to score. Katie passed to Marcus who shot just over. Brett swam in to score. Marcus scored to make the score 5-0. Liverpool were on the attack and Luke saved a shot on to the post. Luke scored at the end of the half with another long shot as the buzzer went. This is getting to be a habit. Half end score 7-0.
Half 2 The swim off was between Dominic and Dan, with Dominic just winning. Emma scored with a good shot to the near post. Emma was again on the score sheet after a good shot from distance into the bottom corner. Brett scored to make the score 9-0. Dan even though playing for Liverpool was not making it easy for Luke, he put Luke under a lot of pressure. Conor scored with a bounce shot. Brett was provider for Ben to make the score 12-0. Eleanor intercepted a pass and then had an assist by passing to Ben to score. Alfie set up Dominic to score to make the score 14-0. Dominic forgetting which team Dan was on, passed the ball to him. It took a great save from Luke to stop him. The match reporter was very happy with the symmetry of three 14-0 victories and was hoping that the score finished that way. With only 20 seconds left, Brett spoiled that with a goal to make the score 15-0.
Team
Luke Atkinson (1), Ben Dailey (3), Conor Lynch (1), Dominic Richard (2), Emma Horne (2), Katie Bowater, Brett Takemoto (4), Alfie Shelley (1), Eleanor Brear, Marcus Woods (1)
Bridgefield vs Warrington
The winners of this game would win the tournament as they had both won their previous 3 games. Warrington were yet to concede a goal.
Half 1 Bridgefield started strongly, they stole the ball to score the first goal. They were on the attack shortly afterwards and scored again with a neat lob shot. Bridgefield continued to press, Warrington were not getting into their normal rhythm. Conor did some good defensive work and passed back to Luke, who tried a long pass which bounced off the water and out of the pool. Warrington were again under pressure and did some good defensive work. Conor got fouled out on the right side, he quickly shot and scored to make the score 2-1.
Half 2 Warrington started much better in this half. Conor passed to Dominic, who did a one two with Brett and Dominic scored to bring the scores back level. Bridgefield were on the attack and shot over. It was then Warrington that went close with a backhand shot from Dominic. Warrington scored from a man up, with a good shot from Dominic to take the lead. Dominic scored another goal with a bounce shot to make the score 2-4. Bridgefield called a time out when Warrington got a player excluded, they went wide with a shot from the man up. Tom Costello, the Warrington coach, called a time out and after that Warrington did well to run the clock down. The result was a 2-4 win for Warrington.
Team
Luke Atkinson, Ben Dailey, Conor Lynch (1), Dominic Richard (3), Emma Horne, Dan Farini, Katie Bowater, Brett Takemoto, Alfie Shelley, Eleanor Brear, Marcus Woods
Coaches
Tom Costello
Su Bowater
A great performance by Warrington to win the Liverpool and District 14 & Under Cup.
