Harborough Town 2012 U11’s ended their roller coaster of a season taking part in the annual 7-a-side Castle Donington & Gasny Exchange Tournament on Sunday 3rd May 2015. This saw us grouped with North Kilworth, Thurmaston, GreenTowers Hinckley and two teams from Castle Donington. We went with a squad of 11 players and would be the last appearance for goalkeeper Jack Bunton, who was sadly leaving the team at the end of the season.

The early start didn’t suit the boys, who were slow to get out of the blocks and lost the first match to North Kilworth in a very one sided game. Luckily we were back in action soon after against Castle Donington 'A' and put in a much stronger performance coming away with a 2-0 win. We then followed that up with three more wins and three clean sheets, which saw us finish in second place and secure a place in the final against a strong North Kilworth team that had won all five of their games.

The final was a 12 minute match and saw both teams evenly matched, with their fair share of chances. Good defending and good goalkeeping kept the score at 0-0 and took the game in to extra time. After a further 4 minutes and still no goals it went in to a nail biting penalty shootout.

Harborough Town won the toss and decided to step up first but even with penalties the teams could not be split which saw it go to sudden death and it must have been written in the stars for Jack to go out in a blaze of glory. Harborough scored their first sudden death penalty and was followed by a fantastic save by Jack ‘The Cat’ Bunton. This saw the entire team sprint from the half way line and celebrate in a sea of yellow shirts.

In summary, five clean sheets in a row (four group games and the final) which was down to good defending, good organisation and hard work, and to come back from a very slow start after losing the first game to put in some great performances and qualify for the final was just outstanding and an absolute joy to watch.

So proud of the all the boys and what a way to end the season!

The tournament squad heroes are:

Alex Garratt
Ben Perry
George McCarthy
Jack Bunton
Jack Spinks
James Lindsay
Matteo Cox
Mikey Colyer
Sam Dixon-Boarder
Tom Dicicco
Zach Richards

WELL DONE BOYS.

Steve Perry
Coach - HTFC 2012 U11's