One half of the Thornes Reds dual team was invited to play in the Manchester City football festival at the Etihad Campus on Saturday 15th November.
Playing indoors on the astro surface, who knows who might have trained here? The first stages of the afternoon started with a round robin group competition, each group had five teams.
First game Thornes start strongly with some good movement and passing, leading to George opened the scoring with a low driven shot into the bottom corner. Jasper, Weston and Theo played some brilliant attacking play with Jasper netting. Theo bagging two, the second, a top-drawer free kick. Max pulled off some good saves keeping a clean sheet. Thornes open their account with an emphatic win.
Max kept his second clean sheet of the afternoon to provide the foundation for Thornes to win their next match. His distribution getting the ball into feet or space for the outfield lads to gain attacking positions. More goals for Theo and Jasper, scored, using set piece plays we have worked hard on in training.
Third game up was a more difficult opponent, a close game throughout but the winning start ended, and Thornes lost out in the end.
Last group game, the fourth of the afternoon, by this time the lads did show some tiredness after a long day of football. They dug deep and were unlucky not to win. However, a draw was enough for the team to progress to the Semi Finals.
The semi-final was where this fantastic afternoon of football ended. Thornes losing out to a well drilled and team who were too strong for them. It was the victors who went onto win the whole competition.
All in all, a very good day and a great experience for the team at world class facilities. With thanks to the coaches for organising the trip and to parents for travelling across the Pennines. All the players did their themselves and the Club proud.