Saturday 9th May saw GSB U12 Boys travel to Bingham Town to take on their U12 Blue team. The Blue’s were 3rd in the league before this game, knowing that a victory would seal promotion and give them a boost ahead of their cup final next weekend. They have done really well this season, having been relegated from Division 4 at the end of 2013-14, they won Division 5 and were looking to get another promotion this season and to maintain their undefeated record.
The game was played at a very windy Butt Field, where it looked like the groundsman was preparing the pitch for the summer as it had seen a great deal of soil put on top of it making it very difficult to pass the ball.
Bingham certainly started like an undefeated team as they won the second ball time and time again. They tried to get the ball down and play some football and looked to use the wind to their advantage in the first half.
Chances came and went at both ends of the pitch with both teams having efforts cleared off the line in the first half. With only a minute to go before half time, Bingham did manage to get themselves ahead. A ball was played over the top but McKensie Withers was there to sweep up at the back. Unfortunately for McKensie his attempted pass to the left back was intercepted by the Bingham forward who helped himself to an open goal.
Half Time: Bingham Town 1 GSB 0
The second half saw GSB have the wind behind them and Elliott Hay in particular was putting in a great deal of hard work to try and get GSB back in the game. As in the first half, most of the chances went to the team with the wind and GSB did manage to get themselves level with 15 minutes to go when James Abbott delivered a great cross from the left which saw James Plant sneak in at the far post to tap the ball home.
Both sides had chances to seal the game with the Bingham forward beating McKensie to the ball half way inside GSB half but his touch was just a little bit too heavy and GSB got back and cleared.
In the last minute GSB had a great chance to seal all 3 points when Carter Pateman was clear in the box but his shot was saved by the Bingham keeper and Haydn McCaughey followed up with a long range effort that just sailed over the bar.
Final Score: Bingham Town 1 GSB 1
This result meant Bingham needed Toton Tigers to lose or draw to gain promotion but unfortunately for them it was not to be but fortunately for GSB as Toton beat Rolls Royce to keep GSB out of the bottom 2.
It has been a funny finish to the season for the U12’s who had looked odds on to gain promotion just before Xmas but lost out in the last 10 minutes of the last game. This seems to have had a big impact on the boys who have been unlucky to lose a few games by the odd goal since then and confidence has drained away.
As we look to move to 11-a-side in September, we are now looking for new players to join us to create a new team. Whilst it has been a pleasure to coach and manage this group of players for the last 5 seasons, I think now is the right time to look at creating a new team with the addition of some new players to get the confidence back amongst the group.
So if anyone reading this knows of any boys in Year 7 that fancy coming along for a training session to try and help create the new team, please ask them to contact me on 07824539678 or email gsb0203@yahoo.co.uk
