Steve Tuck - Tournaments 2007 as U13's

TOURNAMENT REPORT

"Matthew Farthing's Brave New Reffley" came away victorious from their debut at West Winch's 5-a-side Tournament today... clinching a double-headed victory over East Lynn in the KO stages to secure their second tournament win of the summer.

Having had several players call-off for various reasons, a six-player squad made the 'unusually' shortened trip down the A10 to pastures new at West Winch. With a couple of key names absent, the boys that came together today did Reffley U13's proud. With Blake Hewitt in goal, the defence anchored by Alex Tuck, the midfield engine powered by Jake Eglen and Alistair Farthing and the fire power up front amply provided by Josh Rowe and Nathan Bloodworth.

In their opening game, Reffley faced a newly formed West Winch 'B' outfit. The wake up call came early in the form of a strike by the opponents from a wide position on the right. Whilst Alex Tuck should have executed a tackle the West Winch striker got off his shot which beat 'keeper Hewitt at the near post. To say this stung Reffley into responding was an understatement. They simply tore into Winch for the remainder of the game. Alex Tuck got the ball rolling heading home from a Rowe long throw. Josh Rowe opened his account, putting Reffley ahead by deftly lobbing the advancing 'keeper (which was no mean feat in the low-slung 5-a-side goals). Moments later Alistair Farthing popped up to rifle home his shot low to the 'keeper's right and Jake Eglen completed the rout, burying his half volley into the corner of the net. We were on our way! Final Score: West Winch 'B' 1-4 Reffley.

Next up a white shirted Reffley took on Downham 'B'. (That's right - Ed). Having got the opening 3 pts under their belt, Reffley soon settled down to play some scintillating small-pitch football. In this game all the goals came from sweeping moves, involving quick inter-changes of passes and movement off the ball. Quite simply Reffley dominated and overwhelmed their opponents. Goals from Nathan Bloodworth, Eglen and a brace from Tuck secured the points. Final Score: Reffley 4-0 Downham 'B'.

The expectation was that it was about to get harder and we weren't wrong. Next facing Reffley came East Lynn 'B', with one or two new faces - a team clearly benefiting from the summer shakedown in U13's / U14's football currently going on in and around King's Lynn. To be honest, there was little in the match. Reffley might have felt aggrieved about conceding their second goal of the day, when once again a shot from an acute angle out on the right somehow crept past 'keeper Hewitt into the Reffley net, when maybe a tackle or a challenge from Alex Tuck again, ought to have prevented it. Clearly the volume of the cheers emanating from the far touchline demonstrated what that goal meant to the opposition. Although there was time to hit back, the response didn't come despite Reffley's dominance in respect of possession and territory in the final moments. Still, not to worry - the way Reffley were purring along, there would be an opportunity to settle this particular score later in the day. Final Score: East Lynn 'B' 1-0 Reffley.

In their final group game, Reffley needed to see off a particularly slippery banana skin in the shape of Dersingham. Having dumped us out of recent tournaments at Litcham and Dersingham, Reffley were in no mood to see it happen again. Indeed there was no doubt as the Lynn side raced into a 3-0- lead inside three minutes. The goals came from Rowe, Bloodworth and a sublime far post header from Tuck, courtesy of a perfect Bloodworth corner. Reffley had done more than enough to ease themselves into the semis finals as group runners up. Final Score: Reffley 3-0 Dersingham.

Between Reffley and the silverware stood an East Lynn double header - what more motivation could one need?

Despite a wait of 100 minutes from the start of our final group game, we eventually came to the semis, where Reffley faced the winners of the other group, East Lynn 'A'. We knew that if we kept their chances to zero or less, we had a great chance of scoring and progressing to the Final. Josh Rowe's pace, movement, agility and strength were going to cause any team problems today. Bloodworth, often alone up front ran and ran and ran. Eglen and Farthing had raised their games when duly called upon, of that there was no doubt and Alex Tuck - despite the occasional berating from the touchline - was standing up more than well at the back. 'Keeper Hewitt, assured as always provided Reffley's final - almost impenetrable - line of defence. Now it was game on - we were once again at the sharp end of the proceedings. The early exchanges where even as both teams battled for a foothold in the game. The danger signs were there, was East Lynn squandered a couple of half chances. It was time to tighten up at the back and let Rowe et al begin to play with the freedom of expression they had so amply demonstrated in the group games - and boy did they deliver. Indeed, our talisman Rowe opened the scoring, rifling home a left footed drive from a superbly delivered Bloodworth corner - simplicity itself. Soon after Reffley treated all those watching to the goal of the tournament. Hewitt fed a short ball into Tuck, who fed it forward to Rowe. The Reffley star held off one challenge and turning to his right executed a rasping left footed pass with the outside of the boot scooting along the touchline to Eglen. The Reffley midfielder gathered the ball at full stretch and despite going down on one knee, sent an exquisitely weighted pass infield which was met by an advancing Alistair Farthing at full tilt who let fly with a right footed shot which exploded into the East Lynn net. Psychologically, if there ever was a winner, that was it. Job done - we'd arrived at the final. Final Score: Reffley 2-0 East Lynn 'A'.

And so, onto Reffley's first orthodox final of the summer - facing them was East Lynn 'B' and the chance to put right the discrepancy from earlier in the day. Again attention was paid to the opponent's attack, but there wasn't much need to motivate this Reffley team. There was no doubt that they would go out and seize the moment. Again, it was an even start. One or two warning signs were again in evidence, but Reffley just had to stay switched on, weather whatever was thrown at them and wait their turn to hit back. Just over half way through the game, that turn duly came as Reffley took the lead, courtesy of who else - Josh Rowe. A quick interchange of passes saw Rowe gather the ball in a little space left of centre and he made no mistake as he advanced and fired home a left footed shot. It was now a question of getting the extra defender on and playing out the time remaining. Indeed, Reffley hadn't conceded all day when they needed to protect a lead, so things were looking good. With 30 seconds left on my watch, I was surprised to hear the ref. indicate that a further 4 minutes remained. It was a nail biting end to the day that we didn't much need. It was a job-and-a-half to keep the players concentrating and on the task. The official watch must have been stopped every time the ball went out of play and a straight 10 minutes game was eventually halted after 16 minutes 25 seconds! (But who can argue with that. The referee's always wright, isn't he? - Ed.) Final Score: Reffley 1-0 East Lynn 'B'

Thanks today go to the players for the way in which they conducted themselves - perfectly and gentlemanly as always - the parents who endured a marathon Sunday at the end of yet another marathon summer, Dave Eglen for his unstinting support of the boys throughout the year and Matthew Farthing for managing the team to victory today with such aplomb - and at the end of which, he justifiably deserved to get soaked by the players for doing so! Happy Summer - I hope all my readers out there enjoyed the commentary - see you all next season. I can't wait...

PS Josh - you deserve that tenner from your Dad - with 29 goals to your name over the summer, you can't get much closer to 30 than that! There's always a chance I might have mis-counted!

RESULTS

Group B	Reffley	W 4-1	West Winch 'B'	Tuck, Farthing, Rowe, Eglen
Group B	Reffley	W 4-0	Downham 'B'	Tuck (2), Eglen Bloodworth
Group B	Reffley	L 0-1	East Lynn 'B'
Group B	Reffley	W 3-0	Dersingham 'B'	Tuck, Rowe, Bloodworth
S/F	Reffley	W 2-0	East Lynn 'A'	Rowe Farthing
Final	Reffley	W 1-0	East Lynn 'B'	Rowe

GROUP B - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
East Lynn 'B'	4	4	0	0	9	0	12	+9
Reffley	4	3	0	1	11	2	9	+9
West Winch 'B'	4	1	1	2	3	5	4	-2
Dersingham 'B'	4	0	2	2	0	7	2	-7
Downham 'B'	4	0	1	3	0	9	1	-9

Canary Challenge 5-a-side Soccer Tournament
(Format: Four groups, top two qualify, 5 mins each way)

21 July 2007

REFFLEY ROVERS SQUAD (Blake Hewitt, Ben Coote (Capt.), Jack hayes, Jake Eglen, Josh Rowe, Joe Roofe, Craig Elvin, Nathan Bloodowrth, Manager: Dave Eglen)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Tournament Report to follow...

RESULTS

Group G	Reffley Rovers	D 3-3	Norman U12's	Elvin (2), Rowe
Group G	Reffley Rovers	L 1-4	Downham 'A'	Rowe
Group G	Reffley Rovers	D 2-2	North Lynn 'B'	Rowe, Bloodworth
Group G	Reffley Rovers	W 3-2	Broadland Lads 'B'	Coote (3)
Group G	Reffley Rovers	L 1-3	Norman Wanderers	Rowe
Pre. R - Plate	Reffley Rovers	W 2-1	Norman Lads	Rowe (2)
Q/F - Plate	Reffley Rovers	W 1-0	Holt Youth	Rowe
S/F - Plate	Reffley Rovers	L 1-2	Holt Utd	Rowe

GROUP G - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Downham 'A'	5	3	1	1	15	4	10	+11
Norman Wanderers	5	3	1	1	13	4	10	+9
North Lynn 'B'	5	3	1	1	9	6	10	+3
Norman U12's	5	2	1	2	9	12	7	-3
Reffley Rovers	5	1	2	2	10	14	5	-4
Boradland Lads 'B'	5	0	0	5	2	16	0	-14

REFFLEY RANGERS SQUAD (James Stork, Alex Tuck, Alsitair farthing, James Martin, Gareth Searle, Jon Hammond, Manager: Matthew Farthing)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Tournament Report to follow...

RESULTS

Group D	Reffley Rangers	L 0-6	Freethorpe 'A'
Group D	Reffley Rangers	W 3-0	East Lynn 'A'	Pearson, Searle, Martin
Group D	Reffley Rangers	L 0-3	Norman Lads
Group D	Reffley Rangers	D 0-0	Downham 'B'
Group D	Reffley Rangers	L 1-2	Drayton	Hammond
Pre. R - Plate	Reffley Rangers	D 2-2 lost 2-3 pens	Norman U12's	Pearson (2)

GROUP D - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Freethorpe 'A'	5	5	0	0	23	3	15	+20
Drayton	5	4	0	1	9	3	12	+6
Downham 'B'	5	3	1	1	7	6	10	+1
Reffley Rangers	5	1	1	3	4	11	3	-7
Norman Lads	5	1	0	4	3	11	3	-8
East Lynn 'A'	5	1	0	4	1	11	3	-10

Reffley Mini-Soccer Tournament
(Format: One group of six, straight league, 8 mins each way)

14 July 2007

REFFLEY ROVERS SQUAD (Blake Hewitt, Alex Tuck, Ben Coote (Capt.), Jake Eglen, Josh Rowe, Nathan Bloodworth, Craig Elvin)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Rovers stormed out of the blocks and overwhelmed Heacham with some free flowing football. Goals from Josh Rowe (2), Jake Eglen, Craig Elvin, Nathan Bloodworth and an o.g. completed the rout. The pick of the bunch came from Eglen: a sublime passing move down the right which had Heacham chasing shadows, saw him rifle the ball home from an acute angle. Final Score: Reffley Rovers 6-0 Heacham.

Next up came a real 'outside' threat in the shape of Dereham Town. Indeed, so it proved as Rovers fell behind. Captain Ben Coote made matters level, only for a mistake by Alex Tuck which led to Dereham regaining the lead. With 30 seconds left, Rovers' 'keeper Blake Hewitt equalised by way of a very controversial goal. He kicked the ball out of his hands and as the ball landed in the Dereham box, the visiting 'keeper looked to have misjudged the bounce and as he back peddled he appeared to step over the line. The referee, who was standing well up field, blew for a goal - the equaliser. He was immediately surrounded by protesting Dereham players, but the man in black held his nerve and stuck to his decision, this time in favour of Reffley - which makes a change, doesn't it? Certainly does, Ed! (Against my better judgment, I held firm too - the bitter experiences of recent weeks has taught me - as much as I dislike the notion - to accept what comes my way. Do I feel bad about it - no, because my team needs a little payback and this just went a little way to squaring up that particular debt - I'm just sorry the first installment came against a nice team like Dereham.) Final Score: Reffley Rovers 2-2 Dereham Town.

In their third game, Rovers carried on where they had left off the previous week against a rejuvenated Walpole. Alex Tuck opened the account with a well directed header from a corner. Ben Coote added his second of the day and Josh Rowe rounded this off with a stunning left foot drive. Final Score: Reffley Rovers 3-0 Walpole.

In the penultimate game, both Reffley's teams squared up against each other and for the second year on the spin, the game remained dead-locked in a scoreless draw. This again justified the fair-to-all approach of drawing these two teams 'out-of-the-hat'. Final Score: Reffley Rovers 0-0 Reffley Rangers.

Now at the pointy end of the day, Rovers needed three points against Hungate to seal the Tournament win. Nathan Bloodworth got matters off to a flying start. A six-pass move straight from the kick-off, saw Bloodworth turn and shoot in one movement from the edge of the box to rifle his team into the lead with about 15 seconds on the clock. In the second half, Rowe shot Rovers to within sight of the finishing line and in spite of Hungate pulling one back, Rovers weathered the storm and that was that. Final Score: Reffley Rovers 2-1 Hungate Rovers.

So there you have it - the summer's duck was duly broken, at long last. Reffley Rovers played some damn good football, winning the tournament by a point from Dereham, but that all came about thanks to a "dubious" refereeing decision (which if not given, would have meant the spoils going to Dereham). It's a pity the aforementioned decision or something similar didn't come our way 83 days earlier!

RESULTS

Group	Reffley Rovers	W 6-0	Heacham	Rowe (2), Eglen, Elvin, Bloodworth, og
Group	Reffley Rovers	D 2-2	Dereham Town	Coote, Hewitt
Group	Reffley Rovers	W 3-0	Walpole	Tuck, Coote, Rowe
Group	Reffley Rovers	D 0-0	Reffley Rangers
Group	Reffley Rovers	W 2-1	Hungate	Bloodworth, Rowe

GROUP - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Reffley Rovers	5	3	2	0	13	3	11	+10
Dereham Town	5	3	1	1	11	6	10	+5
Walpole	5	3	0	2	8	6	9	+2
Reffley Rangers	5	2	1	2	3	4	7	-1
Hungate	5	1	1	3	5	6	4	-1
Heacham	5	0	1	4	1	16	1	-15

REFFLEY RANGERS SQUAD (James Stork, Alistair Farthing, Jack Hayes, Gareth Searle, James Martin, Matty Pearson, Joe Roofe, Jon Hammond)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Tournament Report to follow...

RESULTS

Group	Reffley Rangers	L 0-2	Walpole
Group	Reffley Rangers	W 2-0	Heacham	Hammond, Searle
Group	Reffley Rangers	W 1-0	Hungate	Hammond
Group	Reffley Rangers	D 0-0	Reffley Rovers
Group	Reffley Rangers	L 0-2	Dereham Town

GROUP - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Reffley Rovers	5	3	2	0	13	3	11	+10
Dereham Town	5	3	1	1	11	6	10	+5
Walpole	5	3	0	2	8	6	9	+2
Reffley Rangers	5	2	1	2	3	4	7	-1
Hungate	5	1	1	3	5	6	4	-1
Heacham	5	0	1	4	1	16	1	-15

Dersingham Mini-Sixes Tournament
(Format: Two groups of six, top two qualify, 6 mins each way)

08 July 2007

REFFLEY SQUAD (Blake Hewitt, Alex Tuck, Ben Coote (Capt.), Gareth Searle, Josh Rowe, Jon Hammond, Joe Roofe, Matty Pearson)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

The opening game was against Downham B (b), an excellent starter for a strong and highly motivated Reffley squad and a great opportunity to get off to a flying start. With our opponents kindly taking to the field in yellow training bibs due to a fateful clash of red shirts, an unfettered Reffley stormed out of the blocks, playing strong, imaginative, eye-catching football. Several half chances went begging in the opening minutes. The defensive pairing of Ben Coote and Alex Tuck got straight into the groove and looked more than comfortable in front of 'keeper Hewitt. Reffley's powerhouse midfield of the incomparable Josh Rowe and the tenacious Gareth Searle, started to control the play and Jon Hammond, spearheading the attack, looked razor sharp in front of goal. In the fifth minute, Hammond was picked out in space by a rapier pass from Rowe, which split the opponent's defensive ranks in half and the Reffley striker showed no mercy as he ruthlessly toe-poked the ball home from 6 yards out. Most gratifying. Now the simple question was: could Reffley shut up shop and secure the points? You bet we could! Final Score: Reffley 1-0 Downham B (b).

In our second outing, Reffley played with two strikers against a tentative Walpole side, in a bid to get some goals on the scoreboard. Matty Pearson, Joe Roofe and Hammond rotated throughout the game in a bid to keep the attack fresh and the opponents guessing. Indeed, the goals did come, but from the two centre backs, with Alex Tuck's opener, complemented by a Ben Coote strike from close range and a second half own goal, which flew in off a Walpole defender following a rasping cross from Jon Hammond. Amusingly, Tuck's goal came from a long throw by Josh Rowe which clouted the Walpole bar directly and fell at the feet of the surprised Reffley defender at a range of only two metres out. Final Score: Reffley 3-0 Walpole.

Now it was time to get out the banana skins again! For the second time in a week an unfancied Dersingham side, de-railed the Reffley locomotive. Having never lost to Dersingham before, they denied Reffley qualification at Litcham seven days previously and caused an upset again today. Going nil-1 down in the opening minute, Reffley were always confident, with plenty of time on the clock, of hitting back. Indeed, the equaliser soon came as Alex Tuck again found his unlikely scoring boots, rifling home from close range. However, a defensive lapse from a Dersingham corner saw our opponents head home and run away with all three points. Although this was a disappointing result, there was no need to panic - plenty of football left yet. Final Score: Reffley 1-2 Dersingham

Next into the fray came a vibrant Hungate side who were playing well. However, a timely break allowed Reffley to put the disappointment of the last game behind them and they really came out showing all those watching what they could do. They duly put Hungate to the sword, playing some of the most scintillating football of the day. Free flowing, accurate passing and their movement off the ball was just too much for their game opponents to handle. Goals from Tuck, Hammond and Matty Pearson comfortably secured the points. Final Score: Reffley 3-1 Hungate.

In the final game of the day, Reffley just needed to avoid defeat to go through as group winners. In our way stood Downham A (b), a team comprising of the usual "cherries", but this time laced with a generous topping of cream from the former Woottons (quel surprise, Rodney, quel surprise!). The telephone wires along the A10 corridor to and from our Lynn neighbours must have been red hot earlier this summer. (Might explain BT putting in the extra bandwidth at the Woottons exchange across the road from me! - Ed). On the other hand, it's good that those boys left behind in the wake of their former team's meltdown have found somewhere to play, 'cos if any of them had came knocking at our door, they would have been given a polite, "Thanks, but no thanks. You don't qualify to play for us, as you don't live on or close enough to Reffley. Sorry.") Clearly, you just can't underestimate the absolute desperation of the champions to maintain their winning ways in the forthcoming season. Onto footballing matters: it was a pretty even affair, with Downham taking the lead in the first half with an incisive move down the left, finished off (I think) by one of their star 'guests'. Any complaints? Nope, it was a good goal. Having scored freely all day and knowing a score draw would suffice, we did our best to hit back but unfortunately the sands of time were against us and the clock expired, despite a couple of decent half chances in the dying moments. Final Score: Reffley 0-1 Downham A (b).

Although it was good to return to the Pastures, it was the defeat against Dersingham and not the one at the hands of the Downham-Wootton axis, which denied Reffley their expected passage into the semi-finals. Nevertheless, Reffley U13's equipped themselves well today, finished as top scorers and in doing so, played their football in a manner that was very, very pleasing and which didn't go unnoticed by some of the neutrals watching. "So, no sour grapes today, eh?"

Thanks to Karl Bowman for the usual excellent setting and fine weather and special thanks to Mark Pearson for an impeccable day's refereeing. It would do no little harm for some of the many, many youngsters getting into refereeing to have sat on the side lines and watched how Mark expertly officiated throughout the day's play on our pitch. As always, thank you Mark, your efforts were very much appreciated by Reffley.

Nothing then remained but to head off over to the nearby garden of the Feathers Hotel for a well-deserved Pimms and a bowl of cherries and cream!

RESULTS

Group	Reffley	W 1-0	Downham B (b)	Hammond
Group	Reffley	W 3-0	Walpole (b)	Tuck, Coote, og
Group	Reffley	L 1-2	Dersingham	Tuck
Group	Reffley	W 3-1	Hungate (b)	Tuck, Hammond, Pearson
Group	Reffley	L 0-1	Downham A (b)

GROUP - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Downham B (b)	5	3	1	1	5	1	16	+4
Downham A (b)	5	3	1	1	4	1	16	+3
Reffley	5	3	0	2	8	4	15	+4
Hungate (b)	5	3	0	2	4	4	15	0
Dersingham	5	2	0	3	4	7	10	-3
Walpole (b)	5	0	0	5	1	9	0	-8

Litcham Mini-Soccer Tournament
(Format: Two groups of six, top two qualify, ten mins straight)

01 July 2007

REFFLEY RANGERS SQUAD (Blake Hewitt, Alistair farthing, Alex Tuck, Ben Coote (Capt.), Josh Rowe, Jon Hammond, Craig Elvin)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Tournament Report to follow...

RESULTS

Group	Rangers	W 1-0	Morley 'B'	Hammond
Group	Rangers	L 1-2	Dersingham	Hammond
Group	Rangers	W 5-1	Bulldogs 'A'	Elvin (2), Rowe (2), Hammond
Group	Rangers	L 0-1	Litcham 'A'
Group	Rangers	W 3-0	Toftwood 'B'	Rowe (2), Elvin

GROUP - FINAL TABLE

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Litcham 'A'	5	5	0	0	16	0	15	+16
Dersingham	5	3	1	1	6	7	10	-1
Reffley Rangers	5	3	0	2	10	4	9	+6
Toftwood 'B'	5	2	0	3	5	10	6	-5
Morley 'B'	5	0	1	4	2	8	1	-6
Bulldogs 'A'	5	1	0	5	4	14	0	-10

REFFLEY ROVERS SQUAD (James Stork, Jake Eglen (Capt.), Jack Hayes, Gareth Searle, James Martin, Nathan Bloodworth, Matty Pearson, Joe Roofe)

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Tournament Report to follow...

RESULTS

Group	Rovers	D 0-0	Morley 'A'
Group	Rovers	D 0-0	Bulldogs 'B'
Group	Rovers	L 0-1	Litcham 'B'