Whyteleafe FC Under 8’s Saturday Team entered the Epsom and Ewell FC mini soccer tournament on Saturday 11th july at the Goals soccer centre in Tolworth. It was an opportunity for the players to practice for next season with what was largely the Saturday A team – along with trying out some garish new boots!
The players that took part in the tournament were:
Ben Johnson, Ellis Legg, Sonny Docherty, Ben Brant, Max Kenny, Joshua Walker-Reifet, Jaden Perez and Fisayo Adeagbo. Jason Reifet was the manager ably assisted by Joe Perez. Thanks also to Carol for keeping scores.
Despite the weather the boys put in some good performances winning 2 matches, drawing 1 and losing 1 – they also won a hastily arranged friendly match at the end. We even managed to successfully take the gazebo down for the first time without breaking it! Throughout the tournament Whyteleafe played some excellent football with some good passing and every player giving their all.
Match details as follows:
Whyteleafe 3 - 0 Guildford City
Whyteleafe came out of the blocks quickly in our opening match running out easy 3-0 winners. Whyteleafe played excellent football throughout the match passing particularly well. Josh Walker-Reifet set up Ben Brant to score the first goal which was quickly followed by Jaden Perez setting up Ben Brant again to score his and Whyteleafes second. Ben Brant then turned provided to set up Max Kenny to score the third.
Epsom Eagles A 2 - 0 Whyteleafe
Whyteleafe drew their only blank of the day losing 2-0 to Epsom Eagles A. A lucky long shot by Epsom caught the Whyteleafe keeper Ben Johnson off guard to go 1-0 up - Johnson then pulled off some excellent saves to keep Whyteleafe in touching distance before Whyteleafe were caught on the break whilst trying to equalise to lose the match 2-0.
Whyteleafe 3 - 1 AFC Ewell
Flapjacks and fizzy drinks seemed to do the trick for our next match. Sonny Docherty was the star of the show scoring 2 goals and then setting up Joshua Walker-Reifet to score the third. Whyteleafe played great football throughout the match and could have had more with some better finishing.
Whyteleafe 2 - 2 AFC Wimbledon
Best match of the tournament by a long way played in great spirit by both clubs. Whyteleafe looked like they were heading for defeat in their last tournament match when Wimbledon quickly went into a 2-0 lead by half time. However the boys showed real spirit when Sonny Docherty scored a goal to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Whyteleafe then peppered the Wimbledon goal throughout the rest of the second half and were rewarded when Ben Brant popped up at the back post to score an equaliser in literally the last kick of the game - great interplay and passing by the whole team to finish the match 2-2. Ellis Legg also pulled off a stunning save to keep Whyteleafe in the match - Motto – never give up!
NB - would have liked to check the birth certificates of some of the Wimbledon players - one was as tall as the manager - although he was only about 5ft!
Whyteleafe finished off a good day by playing a friendly against a good Worcester Park team beating them 4-1 in the rain - can’t remember the scorers but it was a great team performance.
Team performances
Ben Johnson - good job in goal and on pitch, keeping us in a few games
Ben Brant - dodgy coloured boots, joint top scorer but almost got sent off - needs to chill out a bit
Joshua Walker-Reifet - never gave up and scored a couple of goals - good tournament
Ellis Legg - went in goal for a few games and pulled off a crucial save against Wimbledon to keep the match alive, solid performance on pitch
Fisayo Adeagbo - some crunching tackles - good performance in his first match for the Saturday team
Max Kenny - some great performances and good passing (Note: needs to bring more snacks next time)
Jaden Perez - pulling the strings in midfield a la Platini - good vision setting up a lot of chances
Sonny Docherty - joint top scorer - what is it with orange boots and goals?
Bring on next season!
Tags: epsom and ewell, gazebo, rain, tournament, Whyteleafe
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