ST ALBANS CITY YOUTH F.C.
6 'A' SIDE TOURNAMENT 2001
The Annual St Albans City Youth 6 A Side Tournament was played on Sunday 10th June at Sandringham School with an attendance of over 2000 people. There were four age groups within the competition, with the Under 9's and 10's played in the morning and the Under 11's and 12's in the afternoon.
The trophies the teams were competing for were the Ben Lacey Trophy (U9), the Gavin Pendred trophy (U10), the Richard Thomas Trophy (U11) and the Joe Horgan Cup (U12).
UNDER 9's The Ben Lacey Trophy
The Saints Under 9 A team were playing together for the first time and lost all four of their group matches but they improved as the competition went on and only lost 1-0 in their last match to Group Winners Cuffley A.
A goal by Nathan Byrne earnt the Under 9's B a point in their match with Enfield A, but they lost their next game 2-0. They then played Birchwood and won 3-0 with goals from Charlie Wyatt, George 'Flash' Gordon and Gareth Smith. needing to win their last group match to go into the Semi-Finals they could only manage a 0-0 draw against Cuffly B.
Although the Under 9 C team won two of their four games they had to settle for second place in the group against London Colney who they lost 3-0 to in their first match. The Under 9's C beat Michenden A 2-1 with goals from Ben Riddell and Andrew Harris whilst in their second match they beat Enfield B 4-0 with Tommy Hunt scoring a fine hat trick and Ben Riddell scoring the fourth goal. In their final game they drew 1-1 with a goal from Ben Lazarus against London Road.
The Under 9's D also won two games and drew one to finish second in their group. They started off with a 0-0 draw and this was followed by a 2-0 victory over Harvesters A with goals from Harry Fountain 9 (a long range effort) and Jack Ashcroft. Luke Campion scored the only goal of the game against Minchenden B and he also hit the post with two other chances during the match. In their final group match they played Wheathampstead A and the winners of this match would win the group, with a late goal Wheathampstead booked their place in the Semi-Finals.
Semi-Finals
Goals from Mark Hiller and James Yates saw Wheathamstead beat London Colney 2-1 whilst in the other Semi Final Cuffley beat Enfield 1-0.
Final
This proved to be an easy match for Wheathamstead who ran out winners by four goals to nil, James Yates scored a hat trick and Mark Hiller struck the other goal. After the match the Ben Lacey Trophy was presented to the Wheathamstead team by Mervyn Morgan, Chairman, St Albans City Youth F.C. and City Youth Commercial Manager Clive Attwood.
UNDER 10's The Gavin Pendred Trophy
The Under 10's A finished top of their group with three wins and a goalless draw. In their first match they beat Enfield 2-1 with goals from Michael McDonough and Charlie Merson. Their next victory was against Harvesters B which they won 3-1 after being 1-0 down early on in the game. The goalscorers were James Smith*2 and Charlie Merson, james Smith also scored in the Under 10 A's victory over Minchenden B.
With one team not turning up in their group the Under 10's B only had to play three games of which two were goalless draws. their only victory was against Hemel Aces A with goals from Nick Glasgow and Michael Gamble to give them a 2-1 win. They finished second in their group.
Goals from Nathan Sandiford and Barnaby Mayles in their first match gave the Under 10's C a 2-0 victory over Cuffley B. They next played Chase Side A and won 2-0 with efforts from Nathan Sandiford and a Sam Youngs header. They then drew 1-1 with Birchwood A with a goal from Sam Youngs and this result left them needing to win their final group match to progress to the Semi Final stage. This they did in style beating Hemel Aces B 4-0 with goals from Christie Tyler*2, George Hackett and Nathan Sandiford.
The Under 10's D started with a 1-0 win over London Road in their group with a Ben Carey goal, but alas this was followed by three defeats. Troy Petchey scored their only other goal in a 5-1 defeat by Harvesters A.
Semi-Finals
The first Semi Final was a cracker and it saw the Under 10's C play Harvesters A with St Albans finally winning by four goals to three. Firstly a low drive by Christie Tyler and then a simple tap in at the far post by the same player gave the Saints a 2-0 lead. Harvesters with a goal either side of half time soon made it 2-2. But another long throw by O'Connor saw Sam Youngs head the Saints back into the lead. harvesters again equalised and with extra time looming the Young Saints scored the winner when Christie Tyler headed home a James Rosson corner to complete his hat trick and send them through to the final. In the other Semi Final between Minchenden A and St Albans A a very late goal from Minchenden saw them win 1-0 and so deny an all St Albans Final.
Final
Barnaby Mayles opened the scoring for St Albans with a low drive early on in the match. he also nearly made it 2-0 but his other effort was cleared off the line. Midway through the second half a goal from Luke Eskesen took the match into extra time. the young Saints really put the pressure on but found Freddie Daeche-Marshall in the Minchenden goal in great form, holding onto to everything. With a penalty shootout looming the young Saints finally broke the deadlock when Nathan Sandiford with a cracking shot on the turn to make the score 2-1. Thirty seconds later it was 3-1 when Nathan Sandiford headed home a Conor O'Connor corner kick and became the hero of the day. Well done to Charlie and all of the lads.
After the match The Gavin Pendred Trophy was presented to St Albans by Mervyn Morgan, Chairman, St Albans City Youth F.C. and City Youth Commercial Manager Clive Attwood.
UNDER 11's The Richard Thomas Trophy
In their group the St Albans City Youth Under 11 'A's finished top of the table with nine points whilst three teams finished on seven points each. The Young Saints had two wins plus two goalless draws and a 1-1 draw with Abbotts 'B' in which Liam McDermott scored. Their first victory was a 1-0 win over Northwood 'B' with Carl Costain scoring. Whilst in their second win they beat Comet Sports 'A' 8-0. The goalscorers were Carl Costain*2, Ethan Hughes*2, Andy Teasdale, Alex Potter, Jack Gordon and Liam McDermott. The Under 11's 'B' finished fourth in their group with two victories. First was a 1-0 win over Abbotts 'A' with leo Gibbon scoring and then a 4-0 defeat of Wheathampstead 'B' which saw Eddie Morrison scoring a hat trick and Leo Gibbon scoring the other goal. Gibbon again scored in the 1-1 draw with Higham Park and Eddie Morrison got the only goal in the 2-1 defeat by Bedmond Echoes. In the other match in their group the under 11's 'B' lost 1-0 to Wormley 'A'.
A Scott Corley Hat trick plus a single from Jack Ridley saw the Under 11's 'C' off to a great start with a 4-0 victory over London Road 'B'. After this though they suffered three defeats, 5-0, 1-0 and 3-0 to Wormley 'B', Birchwood rangers and Northwood 'A' respectively. They did manage a 1-1 draw with Harvesters 'B' with Jack Smith scoring and so the Under 11's 'C' finished in 5th place in their group.
Semi-Finals
Wheathampstead 'A' beat Harvesters 'B' 3-1 in the first semi final whilst the second semi final between St Albans 'A' and Wormley 'A' went to extra time. Ethan Hughes gave the young saints the lead after he had gone around the Wormley keeper and calmly tucked the ball into the empty net. Paul read scored an equaliser for Wormley just before half time and with no further goals in the second half the match went into extra time with the score standing at 1-1. With the score still at 1-1 and penalties looming Wormley scored two late goals through Paul read to win the game 3-1. James Fox, the Saints keeper had an outstanding game for the Saints.
Final
The final, between Wheathampstead 'A' and Wormley 'A' ended goalless in normal time and so to extra time. With only seconds left Robert Walker for Wheathampstead was very unlucky when he saw his low drive strike the foot of the post and rebound back into play. So to Penalty kicks seeing Wormley win 4-2 with Kyle Hodson, Billy Coyne, Paul read and captain Jack Selby notching the vital goals for Wormley, Mitchell Davies and James Mosely scored for Wheathampstead.
The Richard Thomas Trophy was presented to Wormley Captain Jack Selby by John Seeby of St Albans City Youth F.C.
UNDER 12's The Joe Horgan Cup
The Under 12's 'A' started off in their group with two goalless draws against London Road 'B' and Hemel Aces. But they then had two victories and so finished top of their group. two goals apiece from Ruaridh MacPhee and Carl Vidgen saw them beat Potters bar 'B' 4-0. They then finished their group matches with a 2-0 win over Comet Sports 'A' with the goals coming from Callum Fowler and Carl Vidgen.
Goals from Chris jell and danny Norris saw the Under 12's 'B' defeat Birchwood 'A' 2-0 whilst a last minute effort from Chris Jell after his first shot was blocked saw them win 1-0 against Comet Rangers 'B' in their second game. They then lost 2-0 to Enfield 'B' but beat Greenacres 3-1 in their final match to top the group, the goalscorers were Chris Jell and Daniel Dorans.
Although the Under 12's 'C' scored the most goals in their group and also won three out of their four games they could still only finish second in their group. They started off with a 1-0 victory over Birchwood 'B' but this was followed by a 2-1 defeat by Comet Rangers 'A', the eventual group winners. The Under 12's 'C' then beat London Road 'A' 7-0 and Potters Bar 'A' 3-1 but alas they had to settle for second place in the group. The young saints goalscorers were Ricky Miller*4, Ross Court*2, Alex Herbert*2, Russell Gallagher*2, Alex Olcot and James Lawrence.
In their first three games the Under 12's D lost 2-0, 3-0 and 2-0 to Enfield 'A', Luton Borough and Greenacres. In their final match they beat Comet Sports ' B' 2-1 with goals from Jass Uddin and Edward Ridge.
Semi-Finals
The first semi final saw both the Young Saints teams playing each other and the only goal of the game was scored in the first minute by Carl Vidgen for the Under 12's 'A'. Although the 'B' team pressed hard they found the 'A' teams defence not giving an inch throughout the match. The favourites, Enfield 'A' in the other semi final went out 5-4 on penalties to Comet Rangers 'A' after the match finished goalless after extra time.
Final
So to the final and the Young Saints seemed to have used up all of their energy in the semi final. They finally lost 3-0 to Comet Rangers 'A'. Ricky Kennelly*2 and Ryan Bartley scored the goals for Comets. This was Comets third victory in a row in the Tournament, with the same team having won at Under 10's and then last year at Under 11's. After the match Perry Smith, Captain of Comet Rangers received the Joe Horgan Cup from John Seeby the Tournament Co-Ordinator.