Star strike boys shine in end of season friendly!

by Trevor Stocker

Star Strike JFC U11s 9 – 1 West Bridgford Colts Buccaneers



We have played West Bridgford Colts a few times this year, most recently at the Southglade tournament.

With the summer sun shining on our home pitch and all the boys in attendance in their new kits it promised to be a great match, and boy we weren’t disappointed!

With Jake leading the team again as Captain, we got off to a strong start. We were dominant in the opponent’s half and any sign of attack was quickly sniffed out by our defenders, Dylan, Riley, and Jake.

The first goal of the match was worked well up the field and coming to Ezra with a cracking strike to the back of the net.

For sure today we got to see the effort put in during training sessions come out in the match again, good strong forward passes and the boys carrying the ball well up the field.

The hard work in the sunshine paid off shortly afterwards with a brilliant goal from Kiran, who had a fantastic match.

I think at this point the Colts felt the pressure from Star Strike as we were attacking all over the pitch. Shots coming across the goal from Maxi, Jokubas, Reuben and Ezra, eventually the ball going out of play for a goal kick.

Everyone had a chance to shine today with Ryan, Max, Teddy, Thevon and Daniel coming on. It was great to see Jake guiding the defenders into position and the others learning from his leadership. Some great tackles in defence the team really kept our game strong.

Good runs from our wingers today helped with those through balls to the forwards. Although knowing when to release the pass just held us back on a couple of occasions.

Keeping the pressure on though, Kiran found the back of the net again for his second goal! Obviously thirsty for a goal-tastic match Kiran scored another two goals taking us to 5-0 at Half time.
During the second half we dropped to 8 players on the pitch to give the younger side an opportunity in the game.

We had to work the ball harder but still had complete control of the game, with some great chances for us. Reuben had the crowd gasping with an awesome shot that just went across the goal.

A cross in from Ezra to Jokubas saw him take a strike on target which came off the defenders for an Own Goal in the end taking us to 6-0.

On an attack down the wing, Dylan deflected the ball hard, but it went into the Colt player causing a break in the game for a few minutes whilst he was checked over. It was great to see the team spirit between the two teams and on a couple of occasions during the match today we checked on each other, well done boys a great quality.

Despite the score line the Colts Goalkeeper had some great saves during the match. Unfortunately, though could not keep out further goals from Ezra and Kiran taking us to 8-0.

I think at this point we maybe lost a little focus and got a little frustrated allowing the Colts back into the game, everybody wanted to score which led to us forgetting the build up through passing. A couple of our clearances gave them an opportunity and they scored. Further pressure saw a couple more chances for them just go wide.

As we approached the end of the second half Reuben exploded up the pitch from the midfield and was cut down just inside the box for a last-minute penalty. Lining the ball up with a great strike he found the back of the net taking us to a 9-1 victory!

An amazing one-handed diving save by Cayleb towards the end of the game drew applause from the entire crowd and kept the score down to only one goal conceded.

A great effort from all the boys today, it is wonderful to see them all growing together as a team, through the training sessions and matches. Super Proud of them all.

Finally, a special mention and thank you to Cameron, our match referee today, giving a great performance, he was fair and took good decisions. Well done Cam, all the parents commented on a great job!

Players: Cayleb (GK), Kiran, Teddy, Jake (Captain), Daniel, Ezra, Maxi, Ryan, Dylan, Thevon, Max, Jokubas, Riley, Reuben
Referee: Cameron
Man of the Match - Kiran
Goalscorers: Ezra (2), Reuben (pen), Kiran (5) and 1 O.G. (from Jokubas shot)
Coaches: Scott & Steve