U11 Lions Season Summary

The Crofton Saints Lions U11 team have now completed their 2012/2013 campaign. Overall it was a largely successful season with the boys finishing in third position in the Cummins & Pope Mid Solent Youth Football League U11A Division. It had been very tight at the top, and the Lions lost only two matches throughout the season, but the eventual victors, Gosport FC Arrows, were worthy winners. The Arrows became the Lion’s nemesis later and the two sides met in the Cummins & Pope Mid Solent Youth League U11 Cup Final played at Cams Alders. The records will show that the Arrows won 5-2 on that occasion but it was much closer than that. To be fair, the scoreline does not reflect just how hard the Lion’s tried and played on that day. Another great disappointment was being eliminated in the third round of the Hampshire U11 Challenge Cup by Rushmoor Saints Tigers – the eventual winner of the Cup. The boys played below their best on that occasion and consequently suffered a 4-0 defeat.
 
The Lion’s entered seven post-season tournaments and did extremely well. These days teams at this level will often contain academy players from various local clubs and some of the competition was very, very good. Nevertheless, the Lion’s got a representative Crofton Saint’s side to the semi-finals on every occasion and on five of those occasions went on to contest a final. Of those, the boys won two and lost one in a very close match, losing out 5-4 on shoot-out penalties against Purbrook Athletic. In the other two finals, the boys lost two keenly fought and close encounters suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat in both finals. The shoot-out defeat against Purbrook Athletic – in our very own competition - was a real tragedy in some respects. During the tense shoot-out one of the Lion’s efforts struck the crossbar and the ball came down behind the line. The Purbrook keeper sportingly acknowledged that the ball had crossed the line but a goal was not given. I do not blame the referee, nor his assistant placed on the goal line to cover such events. However, my goal-line technology (I was photographing the attempts) shows that when the ball crossed the line the assistant referee’s view was obstructed by a pathetic spectator who had encroached upon the goal line, placing himself between the assistant and the goal, blocking his view. I was very aggrieved on the day. The boys had put in a lot of effort and had played extremely well over the preceding three hours to get to the final, and all of that effort was negated by a mindless spectator. At that stage the penalties were even and a disallowed goal put the Lions one behind. It was extremely disrespectful to both teams and it should not have happened. He was not a Purbrook supporter, I am pleased to say, and he was certainly not a Lion’s supporter.
 
On Friday26th July the boys will be wined and dined by our Sponsor and proprietor of the Agora Restaurant in Southsea (Yllmas Sener). On behalf of the club and the boys can I extend our sincere thanks to Yllmas for his support and sponsorship over the season just gone and we look forward to his continuing support during the coming season.
 
Can I also, once again, mention all of those unpaid and unsung people at the Crofton Saints Football Club as a whole, and those who put in a great deal of effort to stage this years well-attended six-a-side tournament (I’ve never cooked so many sausages and burgers in my whole life), without whose efforts football at grass-roots level would simply collapse. Thanks to you all.