New Mills Bees – New Mills Juniors tournament. 20/05/23
What a great day the Bees had playing in the NMJFC tournament on their home turf. The weather was fantastic, there was plenty of support and despite the team not playing a game together for a few weeks due to the season ending, they were raring to go. The Bees were in Group A with 6 other teams. Most of which we’d played before, the only unknown entity were Juno United Lions.
Games were 10 minutes long, with no half times, so you need to be quick off the blocks in tournament football.
The Bees had a good turnout with Stanley, Alexander, Joshua, Rocco, Leo and Charlie. First up was a tough game against Buxton Young Bucks Blues. The Bees were clearly ring rusty and took a little while to settle. Buxton got into their stride early on scored a few long range efforts and ran out eventual winners.
Next up were our local rivals Hayfield who always give the Bees a good game, this could go either way. Game 2 saw the Bees settle a bit more and begin to put a few passes together. Somehow Leo managed to hit the post, pick up the rebound, shoot, hit the post again… pick up the second rebound and shoot, only for the Hayfield keeper to pull off a great save to keep the Bees out. Hayfield ran out eventual winners, but a much improved Bees performance gaining some much need match sharpness.
Game 3 saw us against Chinley Whites (we didn’t get to play Chinley during the season due to weather and games being cancelled) the Bees had now found their rhythm matching Chinley all the way… a couple of crackers from Charlie gained the Bees their first goals and points in the group…. This set the Bees up for game 4 against Whaley Bridge Sharks, which was arguably the best game of the tournament.
The Bees were set up with Alexander in goal, Rocco and Joshua our solid defence with Leo and Charlie the Bees equivalent of Cole/Yorke or Shearer/Sutton or Quinn/Phillips or any other deadly strike partnership you care to think of. The Bees started the game at 100 miles an hour having got to grips with tournament football… and they didn’t take their foot off the pedal until the horn went to end the game. This was where everything clicked into place, sublime passing from defence to attack, great through balls and a hatful of goals from Leo, Charlie and Rocco weighed in as well. It was one of the best performances from the Bees. Stanley pretty much re-enacted Maradona’s second goal vs England in the Mexico 86 World Cup, he sailed past 4 Whaley players with the supporters (& coaches) in a frenzy willing him to score, but the keeper foiled him at the last minute…. Just absolutely amazing !
Next up in game 5 were Juno United Lions. They were a good side with some strong players, the Bees couldn’t quite match the performance of the previous game despite coming close a few times with Juno running out eventual winners. The Bees last group game, game 6 was the big one…. Our training partners and friends… New Mills Wasps. The Wasps have had the better of every meeting this season so we had a point to prove. Such an equal game with some end to end action was everything the coaches, the supporters and players expected. Fittingly the game ended with honours equal. The Bees progress was out of our hands now and due to the final standings, the Bees just missed out on the quarter finals. Every one of the Bees gave their all, played with a smile and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. Looking forward to more football over the summer.
Thanks to Jo Downes / Rick Adrio and all the volunteers on the day for making it such a great experience for everyone. And it goes without saying, thanks to all the support from everyone else.
⚽️🖤💛⚽️
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