2013-2014 season

Wow, what a fantastic 12 months we have had as a team from players, coaching team, parents and supporters! I am sure we would all agree that the children have all come on in the following areas:

Team work
Social skills
Confidence
Understanding of the game
Football skills
Fitness
And even listening skills…

Looking forward to next season
🙂

Thanks all for continued support

Also like to thank the parents who have helped us with training, refereeing, setting up, taking down……

Regards
Tang and team

Another season finished and the U8s have now finished playing 5v5 and move to 7v7.

We are reducing from 3 games to 2 games.

The season has seen the lads once again enjoy their football and have some tough games and some not so tough.
Throughout the season the players and parents have been a credit to themselves and the club.

We will continue to strive to help the players get better at their football and try to ensure that they keep enjoying playing the game.

Thank you to all the coaches, parents and players, the team is more than just the lads on the pitch it is all of us and how we help and support each other that’s what makes a great team and the match days enjoyable for everyone.

Roll on 2014-2015

A big well done to both the Blades and Astros for there successful 2013/14 season. Next Season brings a change from 7 a side to 9 a side. Good luck to all players and thank you from Ian, Steve, Dave and Neil.

A big well done to the U10s squad playing their final season at 7v7 football. Both Astros & Blades played in the Albert Steele competition, run by the League at the end of the Season for all U10 Teams, with the Astros progressing to the quarter finals.

Next season brings on a new challenge with the formation of two teams at U11s playing 9v9 football and the offside rule!
Good luck to all players and thank you from Ian, Steve, Dave & Neil

Thank you also to our sponsors, and parents for their support throughout the season.

On the field it’s been a season to remember:

Jacob’s great reaction saves
Jack K’s timely tackles
Thomas K’s captaincy and communication
Connor’s lung-bursting runs up the pitch
Ben’s precise passing
Jack R leaving defenders dizzy
Harry’s heroics to play as well as he always does
Matthew giving full-backs nightmares
David as good as ever despite injury
Nathan improving immeasurably in his first full season
Oliver “can I be Striker?” Conduct is actually a striker!
Thomas B – the ‘Mossley Missile’ – tearing defenses apart
Will ‘Fuzzy’ Parrish seeming to be everywhere on the pitch at once

You’re a credit to club. Stewart would be very proud.

Onwards and Upwards.

It’s a tough transition from U10 to U11. The Squads get split with Astros and Blades feeling like a&b teams. Most important thing to focus on is the boys want to play football, enjoying themselves with friends is far more important than winning. That said, it helps to enjoy your football if you win occasionally.

We set about the season organising this set if lads – making it clear what their roles are, Toughening them up a bit and Keeping energy levels up.

We’ve had a roller coaster season. Highlights were definitely beating Vale after the long break at Christmas and then the games against Astros where we’ve really showed how we’ve developed – thanks to Dave and that team for those games.

U11 Blades awards for 2014
==========================

Boys develop emotionally, physically and mentally at shockingly different rates and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying that at the start of the season this player was off with fairies for much of the time. However, his awareness of the game, positional sense and ability to be in the right place at the right time has been so noticeable this year.
Manager’s Most Improved Player = Jack Stagg

I said earlier it’s really about the boys enjoying themselves and at training it’s critical to strike the balance between having a great time and learning new insights. The boys attitude is the most important thing for me and I’m always looking to them to help me. This boy always has a smile on his face at training, is one of our most skilful players and he always has a ball at his feet.
Manager’s Best Attitude = Caden Frost

First of the awards voted for by the players themselves. This young man is quiet in his manner but incredibly well liked and always dependable. He’s thoughtful and always works his socks off on the pitch, ploughing up and down the wing and often coming off with a face that is pinker than Barbies wardrobe. Unfortunately he’s not here as he’s getting even pinker over in Cyprus.
Sportsman of the Year = Matthew Clark

Next award is voted for by the supporters and I think this year reflects a super balance of a player who always wants to be on the pitch, always gets on with what I ask him to do and has had some absolutely fabulous moments when he’s often been the last man in defence. You should be very proud of this.
Supporters Player of the Year = Kailumb Harding

Finally, the award that probably means most to the boys, their own Players Player. There’s no doubt this young man has the ability to play in any team that we’ve come across this year. He’s an instinctive player and his contribution has stood out for me and obviously to his team mates too. He’s a nightmare for opposition defences and his work rate and goals have kept us driving forward even when we’ve been on the back foot.
Player’s Player of the Year = Kai Ansell

Thank you boys for a super season and let’s keep working towards next season.

Congratulations to all of the lads for coming 3rd in the second division, we missed out on promotion back to the first division by 1 point.

Also well done on winning the u12 division two fairplay award.

In addition, well done to the individual trophy winners who were –

Players player of the year – Max Hughes
Supporters player of the year – Jonathan Goodwin
Clubman of the year – Charlie Wilson
Managers Player of the year – Owen Lees
Managers Player of the year – Jarad Bailey

Owen also won the golden boot, and the top scorers (all competitive games) were as follows

Owen Lees – 20
Jonathan Goodwin – 17
Harper Whitehead – 10
Tommy Brooks – 9
Max Hughes – 5

To go from scoring less than 10 points and worrying about finishing last place in the 12/13 season to finishing fourth with 30 points in 13/14 is a massive improvement and the whole team deserves a massive well done. We couldn’t quite match the stronger teams but we gave them a good game each time we played them and we didn’t struggle against any of the divisions weaker teams. Overall a great effort.
Thanks to parents for their continued support ad looking forward to next yr and making more improvements.Steve/Andy

Following a difficult season the Astros started the new season in Division 2, once again this would have lots of challenges against some strong teams. With the inclusion of a number of new and returning players, the Astros recruited a squad of 18 players and set to work in trying to rebuild the team to try and find the success of seasons past.
It became apparent early on though that this year would once again be a very difficult for the squad. Confidence was low and for the first half of the season, the lads failed to get to grips with the teams they were playing and results went against them. The Astros are a resilient bunch though! the bravery and commitment they all showed at the end of 2013 was something to behold. Week after week they continued to train, turn up for games and never once did we have a situation where players didn’t turn up or refused to play on a Sunday! All the coaches and parents were immensely proud of them all.

Then we started 2014 and things started to change, it all started with a hard fought game at Sandbach, only conceding with the last kick of the game, the Astros got the draw …. The lads then went from strength to strength, taking the league leaders and eventual league champions to the wire, leading 3-1 at half time only to be pipped 4-3 at the end, beating teams above them, grinding out draws and even when they lost, they refused to go down easily! The Astros in the second half of the season appeared totally different to the pre-Christmas team. All of their hard work had started to pay off.

The Astros have been simply amazing this season, maybe not challenging for the league but working for each other, enjoying their football and improving every week. I look forward to carrying on working with the lads for the 2014/15 season.

2013 – 2014 season saw the team have some really good games; however it was to be the injuries which were going to be one of the big issues. The team had to play games with one or no substitutes on a number of occasions due to injuries. Half way through and the team was having to rotate players in nets which meant that the place they normally would play became weaker.

Even with all the setbacks the lads kept playing and still kept getting points on the board. The season was to end on two tournaments the second saw the team hold their own against the top of the leagues and get through to a quarter final which was not to be played due to the late time.

The coaches, players and parents have all been a credit to the club and in spite of some really bad weather have kept supporting the players. All have been a credit to the club, well done.

We now look forward to the new season and we have strengthened the squad which will support the lads with their games next season.

Bring on 2014-2015

The season started so brightly. After qualifying for the first division expectations were high. But missed chances and costly mistakes put paid to a title push. The cup saw Rovers reach the League Cup Semi-Final but unfortunately again missed chances and costly mistakes cost them a place in the final. Some of the team will be progressing to the new adult team, and good luck to them. The rest of the team are off to university good luck to them as well.