Last Saturday our Under 14s met at The Meres to play the Rotherham U14s. Team Talk included an added incentive to win: Thomas’ mum had made cake pops for the team, should they win. Should they lose, the plan was to gift them to Rotherham.

Quarter One saw a blue goal within the first three minutes, followed by successive shots at goal, one successful, by the blues. Keen to turn the score around, Seth and Gabriel both scored within the last two minutes of the quarter, followed by a successful blue penalty within the last 48 seconds, bringing the score to 2:3 to Rotherham.

Harry equalised with a brilliant goal in Quarter Two, followed by a nailbiting number of attacks on our goal by the blues in quick succession. By the end of the quarter the blues were leading 3:6.

Rallying round, Seth popped a brilliant penalty in the net followed by another from Harry. At 5:6 things were looking really positive and victory was in sight, however with the number of majors against Grantham totting up quickly, including a player achieving a hattrick so sitting out for the rest of the game, Rotherham’s confidence blossomed. A Time Out was called, with Gareth encouraging the team to play hard but watch their actions due to the mounting number of majors. By the end of the quarter the scoreline was 6:9. Not impossible, but work to do.

As Quarter 4 played out, Ben was the first to add to Grantham’s score, making 7:9. Two more blue goals went it, then Bella brought the score to 8:11. Seth popped another goal in the net and the last 40 seconds of the game really were edge of seat stuff, including a Time Out. Crushingly Rotherham scored in the last two seconds, final score being 9:12 to our visitors.

With at least nine majors against our players, the post-match team talk focussed on not making mistakes and keeping your head when the going is tough. And it was accompanied by the cake pops from Thomas’ mum (Thank You!), which never quite made it to the Rotherham team…