St Albans City Youth Under 12s East
Puma Christmas Cup
29 December 2011

St Albans City Youth Under 12s East, along with nine other teams were entered into the Puma Christmas Cup at ‘The Football Akademy’ in Stevenage last Thursday.

The standard was fantastic, with teams coming from all over the county. We were put in a group with four other teams, with the top two from each group going through to the semi final.

Our first game was against King George Vipers. With games only 12 minutes long, it soon became clear that it was crucial to take our chances! Some fantastic defending from Tayler Fennel and Liam Murphy made sure the Vipers didn’t get a chance to test stand-in goalkeeper Owen Richardson, whilst a late goal for Lewis Phillips saw the boys win their first game 1-0.

There was a long wait for our next game, against Crawley Green Reds. Both teams started the game brightly, with good chances falling to Cain Joseph and James Nicholson. However, with just four minutes to go, Crawley Green took the lead thanks to mix up in the City defence. The boys pushed for an equaliser, but were punished by a quick Crawley Green counter attack. Final score 2-0 to Crawley Green Reds.

The third game was against Bushmead Rovers. Again, both teams were evenly matched, with chances few and far between. Some hard work in midfield from Sam Smith, and tenacious defending by Giuseppe Basile kept the Bushmead Rovers strikers quiet, while a great through ball from Cain Joseph and an assured finish from Oscar James gave City their second win in the competition. Final score 1-0 to City.

St Albans went in to the fourth game, the last group game, knowing they needed to avoid defeat to Alpha FC to qualify. It was a nervy start to the game, with both teams knowing a win was all they needed to qualify. Five minutes in disaster struck, as Alpha took the lead. But City kept their heads up, and were rewarded with four minutes to go, when Lewis Phillips slipped through the defence to finish brilliantly in the bottom corner. St Albans were in the ascendency, and with just two minutes to go got a winner, with a great goal from Oscar James. Final score 2-1 St Albans.

Having qualified second in their group, St Albans found themselves up against Knebworth Youth, the team that won the other group. And we were immediately hit with a set-back, with Knebworth taking the lead early on. To make things worse, Oscar James took a knock half way in. Despite the set-backs, St Albans managed to equalise through a great strike from Lewis Phillips. And, just like in the last group game, St Albans stole it at the death, with Lewis’s fourth goal of the tournament. Final Score 2-1 to St Albans.

We then found out that we would be playing Crawley Green Lions in the final. From the kick off, St Albans were immediately on the back foot, with Crawley Green dominating the possession and chances. Eventually Crawley Green took the lead, their striker pouncing on the ball first after an Owen Richardson save. Some fantastic defending from Tayler Fennel, Liam Murphy and Giuseppe Basile kept the score at 1-0. With five minutes to go, Liam Murphey latched on to an Oscar James corner for the equaliser. Both teams then hit the woodwork, a quality lob from Oscar James dropping onto the crossbar. 1-1 after 12 minutes.

The boys then played five minutes extra time, and were indebted to a stunning save from Owen Richardson, to keep the scores at 1-1 AET.

So, the drama of penalties – not the way anyone wanted to finish the tournament. After one round of penalties, all players had scored – so to sudden death. After another round, all players had scored again! The referee consulted both managers, and they decided to pull the penalty spot one yard. With the next penalty, the Crawley Green player smashed it against the crossbar! The pressure was on captain Oscar James to win the shootout, and his cool penalty finished the game, despite fingertips from the goalkeeper. Final score 1-1, 13-12 on penalties to St Albans.

It was a great effort from all the boys that played, fantastic well done to everyone! And congratulations to manager Stuart Fennel! They never do it the easy way, but it doesn’t matter when you go home with the trophy!

Squad (Goals + Pens): Owen Richardson (0+2), Giuseppe Basile (0+2), Tayler Fennel, Liam Murphy (1+2), Oscar James (2+3), Cain Joseph (0+2), Lewis Phillips (4+2), Sam Smith, James Nicholas.

By Matt Bennett