The popular District 6-a-side football competition took place on Sunday 13 July 2008 at Binfield Football Club. We entered 2 teams from Cubs and also a team of Beavers. You can read the match reports below , but we only have one photo from the event (please ignore any comments about more photos).

2nd Bracknell Bears – District football champions 2008

Beavers

We don’t have a match report for the Beavers competition but they are included in our photos

2nd Bracknell Bears – match report by Lynne Hughes

Sunday 13th July dawned bright and sunny as the awesome 2nd Bracknell “Bears” football team lined up for the annual district 6-a-side football tournament in Binfield. The team comprised of Sam B, Chris F, Jake G, Luke J, Matthew L, Ben M, Liam W and Cameron Y.

We were playing in a group with 4 other teams and the 2 winners of this league would go forward to the semi-final competition. To make it fair for all, each team was only permitted to field 2 ten-year-old players on the field at any one time. We had a strong combination of Chris, Luke and Ben – who were all 10 years old and who, thus, had to swap in and out during each match to ensure we complied with the rules.

Our first match was against the “4th Panthers”. We had to play 7 minutes each way and we had 2 subs for each half of every match. We had a great start – Liam, with an early break, scored within the first minute of the match. Aggressive attacking led to the second goal at 6 minutes, scored by Sam, and then into half-time leading by 2 – 0. The second half saw our defence getting some of the play and the combination of Matthew and Jake, supported by Chris in goal, saw off some close attacks. However, within a couple of minutes into the second half, Liam, supported by Cam & Ben, scored a second goal and then, with 2 minutes to go, scored his third goal. A hat trick for Liam, a 4 – 0 win for us!

Our second match was against Binfield Moon. The Binfield teams had held the trophy for the past 6 years and we knew this would be a tough match. We started well, with Ben and Cam up front, Luke in goal, Liam and Jake in the midfield / defence. Ben scored a great goal early in the match and just before half time, Cam made it 2! The second half was exciting to watch as we had some great chances, which were foiled by the other team. The defence were solid and our forwards pushed as hard as they could. A scuffle in their area led to us being awarded a free kick just outside of the box. Liam lined this up – and scored a fantastic goal to bring the final score to 3-0 and his personal goal tally to 4.

We were feeling confident as we lined up to play the other Binfield team: the Binfield Stars (their “A” team). We started with Luke in goal, Jake and Liam supporting defence, Cam, Ben and Sam up front. Unfortunately, Binfield made an early break and scored within the first minute of the match. The first goal against us. We then battled on bravely, Liam covering a huge amount of ground as he supported defence, midfield and our forwards in a superb effort of skill and determination. Cam and Ben ran everywhere, Sam was solid in support – but we did not manage to score in the first half. In the second half, we had Chris in goal, Matthew in defence supported by Liam, Jake in mid-field and Cam and Luke up front. This worked well and we had a few chances but could not manage to convert these to a goal. In the 9th minute of the match, there was a hand ball offence in the box and we were awarded a penalty. The obvious choice was Liam – he placed the ball and coolly drove a killer shot in the back of the net! 2-1 to Binfield and, despite best efforts, this was the score at the end of the match.

Our final game was against Sunningdale and we needed to at least draw this to stand a chance of getting through to the semis. We started with Chris in goal, Matthew in defence, Cam in mid-field / defence, Liam in mid-field, Ben & Sam up front. This was a great combination of skills and strengths. Sam scored our first goal within the first 4 minutes of the half. This was followed one minute later by a goal from Liam. The next minute there followed a great bit of teamwork between Ben and Liam with Liam finally getting the ball in the net. 3 – 0 at half time. In the second half, we saw Liam setting up a fantastic opportunity, which Jake was able to convert, 4 -0. Some aggressive playing and our first goal immediately followed this via a header – …from Liam. 5 – 0. Liam was involved in the next goal – setting up Jake for a final conversion, 6 – 0 and in the last 2 minutes of the game, Liam scored again! 7 – 0. 4 goals by Liam.

We now did the maths: 3 wins and 1 loss. 9 points, and a combined goal score of 15 – 2. We were through to the semis! The way these fell meant that we had to play our other 2nd Bracknell team: the “Tigers” in the semi-final. It was tough – no one knew who to cheer for! We put out our strongest combination of players with Chris in goal, Matthew in defence, Cam in defence / mid-field, Liam in mid-field, Ben & Sam up front. At half time, despite some great playing from both teams, there was no score. As always we changed the team at half time and Luke played in goal and Jake took on the defence position. We were warmed up now and started to play strongly with Sam scoring at 8 and 10 minutes and Ben securing the win by a goal in the 12th minute.

We were in the final – against the Binfield Stars – who had been our only loss. Everyone gathered round to support the team. It was very tense. Condor was there gamely waving the 2nd Bracknell flag and just managed to miss causing injury to unsuspecting people standing too close to him! We fielded a strategic combination of positions: Chris in goal, Matthew and Sam in defence, Liam in mid-field, Ben & Jake up front. The play was hard and fast. Sam & Matthew were asked to cover defence and prevent Binfield having any clear shot on goal. Liam was covering the field and pushing the ball forward to Jake and Ben. This effort paid off and Liam scored after 5 minutes. We continued to battle hard and managed to come off at half-time just 1 – 0 up. Cam then came on and Luke took goal. There were some blistering attacks from Binfield and every player in the “Bears” was asked to make some fantastic saves / tackles or shots – which they did. Binfield had a couple of very close calls – narrowly missing our goal posts at least twice. The final whistle went and we had WON!!!!

The team were ecstatic – they had played some brilliant football. Liam was nominated the “Golden Boot” as he had scored 10 goals in the tournament. We raised the trophy – the first time that Binfield had not taken this home with them in the past 6 years! What a victory!

Lynne Hughes (Manager)

2nd Bracknell Tigers – match report by Mike Maughan

Once again the weather was fine for the annual Cubs football tournament at Binfield FC. 2nd Bracknell Tigers started with a disadvantage as the potential squad of 8 was an actual group of 6 meaning everyone got to play all the matches. To add to the pressure Baloo gave them red and white striped shirts to play in rather than the preferred black and white favoured by the manager!

First opposition was 4th Bracknell Lions who didn’t have time to catch breath before Lewis scored after 8 seconds! The Tigers dominated the game and ran out winners by 4 goals to 1, Lewis scored another 2 to complete a hat trick and James W scored the 4th. Callum in goal only touched the ball twice all game!

Next up was 6th Bracknell. A positional change put James M in goal with Callum getting the chance to get involved in midfield. The Tigers took an early lead with another goal from Lewis who was full of running and it looked like the Tigers were going to win again. A minor calamity struck midway through the second half when the Tigers defence forgot about the “back pass” rule giving 6th Bracknell a free kick from 5 yards from which they got the equaliser. Despite lots of running from Kieran and Daniel the second goal would not come so a draw it was at the final whistle.

Third opposition was South Ascot who started well and had the better of the early stages of the game. Daniel was spurred on by Mum offering £5 for a goal (in jest?) so he duly obliged and scored the opener. South Ascot then equalised and took the lead before Kieran scored with a fine shot after good team play all round. James W nearly scored the winner after a good run but a draw was a fair result in the end.

It all came down to the last game – Binfield Sun. Top of the group with 3 wins from 3 games, scoring goals for fun. The Tigers had to win to progress to the semi-finals. Time for a change of tactics, the boys were getting tired so it was 3 at the back, Kieran pushing on from midfield and Lewis hovering in the opposition half. Much reminding of tactics from the sidelines and even a call of “You’ve gone past the clip board” from an excited mother to Lewis! Tigers soaked up lots of pressure; Binfield even hit the post but with 5 minutes to go Kieran ran through the defence and scored with a blistering shot. James M defended in an unusual fashion, twice directing headers over the Tigers own crossbar but they held on for the win.

The semi-final pitted the 2 teams from 2nd Bracknell against each other, the Bears having the fresher legs as they had the luxury of 2 substitutes. End to end stuff and 0 – 0 at half time. The second half was a different story, endless pressure from the Bears led to 3 goals despite a quite spectacular save from Callum and a triple save from James M.

Six pairs of tired legs and restful nights sleep was had by all the Tigers including the manager! Callum D-J, James W, Kieran T, Lewis G, Daniel F and James M represented 2nd Bracknell Tigers.

Mike Maughan (Manager)

The popular District 6-a-side football competition took place on Sunday 8 July 2007 at Binfield Football Club. We entered 2 teams from Cubs and also a team of Beavers.

Beavers

We don’t have a match report for the Beavers competition but they won the league so well done to all concerned.

2nd Bracknell Bears – match report by Lynne Hughes

The 2^nd Bracknell Bears team were scaringly awesome:  Alex E in goal, Matthew L in defence/midfield, Sam B in defence/midfield, Sam H in attack, Chris F in attack and Tom H also in attack – an unusual, but successful formation!

We kicked off the first match against 6^th Bracknell who put out a mixed team.  Straight away we had control and Chris & Matthew secured our first goal within the first minute.  There followed some aggressive teamwork resulting in Sam H scoring our second goal and another attack gave Chris the opportunity to pop in the third goal – and only half time!  Alex and Thomas basically had a rest as they were both playing at the back in this game and had little to do.  In the second half, Sam H and then Chris scored another goal each bringing the final score to 5-0 to us!

Our next game was against 4^th Bracknell Hawks and it was a much more even game with our team working hard in the defence with Matthew and Sam B while our attack pushed forward all the time led by Chris and Sam H.  Sam H was playing hard and had a great run down the wing, passing the ball to Chris who scored our first goal leaving the match at 1-0 at half time.  The second half started with strong attack and the teams hard work resulted in 2 more goals – from Chris and Sam H.  Overall a 3-0 win!

Well, we were on a high and faced the toughest team of the competition with confidence – Binfield Robins.   The were a strong team and managed to finally give our goalie some work to do as well as stretching our defence of Sam B and Matthew.  They managed to score an early goal and then pushed us hard resulting in a 3-0 lead at half time.  We came back strongly, but they still managed to slip in a couple of lucky goals.  Sam H, Chris and Sam B worked valiantly up front supported by Tom H, Matthew and Alex worked hard in defence, but the final score was 5-0 to them.

Our final game was against South Ascot and this was a hard fought, close match.  Sam H made dramatic runs down the field, crossing to Chris who battled to get the ball in the net, Sam B tackled hard and played up front supporting the attack, Matthew played hard at the back and Tom ran the field.  Unfortunately, South Ascot managed to score one goal and, despite the teams best efforts we were not able to score during the match and we came off having suffered a 1-0 defeat.

Now the wait to see who would make it through to the semis: we had equal points to 2 other teams – but, due to our great first two wins, our goal difference was the best and we took our well-deserved place in the semi-final.

The semi was against a very strong team: Sunningdale.  We kept the same format – and Sam H had numerous shots on goal only to be thwarted by their goalie.  Chris covered the length of the pitch in seconds – leading our attack and rushing back to help the defence, Sam B played everywhere as well – up front and the supporting the defence as needed.  Matthew and Alex were kept very busy in defence and Tom played mid-field.   Despite all our efforts, Sunningdale proved too good and we lost by 4-0.

Overall, it was a great day; the team played like champions and justly deserved their place in the semi final!

2nd Bracknell Tigers – match report by Mike Maughan

The Tigers started the tournament challenge against the 4^th Bracknell Eagles. As I knew little about the players (apart from James of course), they selected their positions. With numbers a little thin due to a couple of “no shows” Amy guested from the Beavers in the first game and played really well in midfield, supported by Cameron Y. Daniel and Cameron M defended well, Luke was full of running up front and James solid in goal. Few chances and we lost 1 – 0 to a well taken shot in the first half.

Second game was against Sunningdale (eventual finalists) who had clearly played together before; some positional changes giving Cameron M a go in goal and pushing James up front. Alistair came in for Amy who returned to the Beavers. Tactics nearly worked in the first minute when James had a first time shot well saved. Some solid defending from Daniel before we lost 2 quick goals and just couldn’t break down the defence.

So played 2 lost 2, time to throw caution to the wind ……..

Against Binfield Wrens we played 3 up front, led by Daniel, giving Luke a go in goal and played the “cavalry charge tactic”. It worked!! 2 goals from Daniel and 1 each for Alistair and Cameron Y. The defence leaked 2 but who cares, 4 goals in one match. Qualification for the latter stages was possible!!

So into the final game, we had to win by 2 clear goals so the attack option was again used; James dropping to defence and everyone else pressing on. Daniel again showed why Newcastle scouts are watching him (possibly not true but the author is a toon fan!!), by powering through and scoring early on. Sadly attack turned to limited defence as the 6 started to wilt in the heat (no subs to use) and 1 – 0 became 1 – 2 in a matter of minutes. There was some hope when Cameron M equalised, but sadly 1^st Ascot scored a third to end all hopes of progression. At the final whistle they were a bit down, but had given their best against better players.

Played 4, Won 1, Lost 3. Goals for 6, goals against 8.

Overall the winner today was teamwork and a sense of fun. Everyone had a good go and played where they asked (sorry Luke you had 2 goes in goal but I was using pace and power over skill on the ball) and with a bit more luck we could have won!!

Next year we will start training in April?

The popular District 6-a-side football competition took place on Sunday 9 July 2006 at Binfield Football Club. We entered 2 teams from Cubs and also a team of Beavers.

Here are the match reports

Beavers – report by Merlin

Although we didn’t win this year, 2nd Bracknell Beavers played really well, only losing one of their four games. The team was made up of Amy, Matthew and Michael from Lumberjacks and Daniel, Lewis, James, and Cameron from Mounties. They worked really hard in every game they played – you would all have been very proud of them.

We also lent three players to 6th Bracknell as they had been let down, (special thanks to Thomas Holloway, Adam Cowley and Benjamin Morgan for stepping into the breach). Despite playing for a different team, they also worked extremely hard in every match they played. As a result of this and the fact that we got a team together at the last moment – 2nd Bracknell were awarded the Most Sporting Team …. so congratulations are due all round.

Cubs results

Stags v 6th Bracknell 11 – 0 (Jonathan Rose 8, Sam Holloway 3)

v Ascot Foxes 2 – 0 (JR 1, SH 1)

v Sunningdale Tigers 0 -2

v Binfield Wolves 1 – 3 (SH 1)

Wolves v Binfield Robins 0 – 6

v 4 th Bracknell 4 -3 (Jacob 1, Daniel 1, Sammy Lee 2)

v Sunningdale Lions 0 – 5

v Ascot Badgers 1- 0 (Jacob 1)

The semi- finalists were Sunningdale Lions, Sunningdale Tigers, Binfield Wolves and Binfield Robins. The final was between the two Binfield teams.

A parent commented: “The Cubs Stags footie team should be right proud of themselves, not only for the performance, they all played superbly, but their sportsmanship was terrific too. A pleasure to watch. Although they only just missed finals qualification, they played some blinding football, with their first game a 11-0 win!”

Cubs teams

Because of the restriction on 10 year olds we may have to do some swapping between the teams on the day.

This is a District Event

The popular District 6-a-side football competition took place on Sunday 10 July 2005 at Binfield Football Club. The Cubs entered a Stags and a Wolves team and Beavers entered one.

Beavers Team
The Beavers who took part were: Christopher Freeman, Alistair Shields, Alex Evans, Joshua Rose, Ben Morgan, Mitchell Garrington and Nicholas.

The Beavers won all four of their matches and therefore won their competition.

Wolves Team
Fraser Wood, Ben Wortley, Matthew Workman, Jack Jarvis, Sammy Lee, Jonathan Rose Rupert Viney and Alex Kent

An excited Shere Khan has filed this report:
Our first match was against 6th Bracknell and we dominated the whole game .We won this game 2-0 and Jonathan and Ben scored the goals We then went on to play Sunningdale Lions and the team had lots of confidence after their first victory. The defence played a fabulous game although the ball hardly went their end as the final score was 8-0 to us. Alex scored 4 some of which were set up by Matthew, Jonathan scored 3 and Fraser scored 1. They then broke for lunch and I was worried that they would lose their momentum but they came back after lunch to beat 7th Bracknell 4-0. The goals were scored by Sammy and Ben scored 3. Ben’s goals were set up by Alex and Matthew . As you can imagine by this point I had started to get a little excited that we had something special in our boys on the pitch. Our last League match was against 4th Bracknell and we started off well and really played well but at the end they got a little complacent and let the other team get a goal but the final score was 3-1 to us. Ben scored 2 goals and Rupert 1. This meant that we had won all our league games and had gained a maximum score of 12 points so we qualified as winners for the semi finals. The draw went our way as it meant that we played South Ascot in the semi finals and if by some miracle we got through then we would play the winner of Binfield v 6th Bracknell. I explained to them that Binfield were a tough team but we had an excellent chance if we could get to the finals. We started our game against South Ascot and Jonathan set up a goal for Ben . We then had a fabulous goal from nowhere from Matthew. Our hearts were literally in our mouths as we just couldn’t watch. After half time it seemed that we had relaxed a little bit and this gave South Ascot a chance to score. It got very tense with parents and myself screaming at the boys to hang on to their lead and defend our goal. It paid of and we won 2-1. Much to the boys shock and surprise we were through to the final against Binfield who beat 6th Bracknell. They started the game playing excellently and Sammy scored within minutes of starting the game. I don’t think Binfield at this point knew what had hit them. At half time our boys were really tired and it started to show when they went back on the pitch and in quick succession Binfield managed to score 3 goals. What a shame!!! The final score was 3-1 to Binfield so for the 4th year running Binfield won the football.

Stags team

William Hawkes, Michael Matthews, Elliott Garrington, Cameron Shields, Sam Holloway, James Morgan, Chris Earle and Eamon Rafferty.

Stags results:

Stags 2 – 0 1st Ascot. Scorers: Sam and William
Stags 1 – 3 Binfield. Scorer: Cameron
Stags 0 – 3 Sunningdale Tigers
Stags 2 – 0 South Ascot. Scorers: Sam and Michael

Stags Man of the Tournament would be Eamon in goal.

Shere Khan says…
I think that you will agree with me that our boys played fantastically and Mrs Jarvis did a great job of being our team manager. Michael Matthews Dad was also a star as he looked after the Stags team. It was a good day for Kingfisher and the Beavers as they won all their games so they won the Beaver League. They were definitely a talented bunch and I will be looking out for them to play for the cubs in the future.

This was a District Event.