The Year 7 boys football team has made a very promising start, displaying a good level of ability on the pitch and great team spirit.
The Year 7 boys football team has made a very promising start, displaying a good level of ability on the pitch and great team spirit. Their performance in their very first match against Seaton Burn in the National Cup, in which they finished the match 6-1 winners, was merely a taste of what was to follow in a series of strong performances.
The cup match was followed by a resounding display when Macmillan hosted Hall Garth in the Middlesbrough Schools' League. The team certainly had their shooting boots on as they finished the match 20-0 winners! On the same evening, a team was entered into the Year 7 B Team Football Festival held at Newlands School and finished in 3rd place. Certificates were awarded to all the boys involved.
Another Year 7 Football Festival provided an opportunity for many students to exhibit their skills and stake a claim for a first team place. 21 students were selected for this tournament but unfortunately they did not manage to have the same impact as the B team had the previous week and went out in the group stages. However, it was a great experience as it provided a platform for students to display their talents and in particular Jack Willis who scored our only goal.
Following this tournament came an even greater challenge, as Macmillan hosted King's Manor in the second round of the ESFA National U12s Boys Football Cup (14/10). As the Academy were also drawn in the Town Cup against King's Manor it was decided to make the game a triple header - the National Cup, Town Cup and League fixture all rolled into one and here's how it played out:
King's Manor started quickly and dominated the game. Their two central midfielders were very impressive and took control, driving forwards and causing problems for our defence. After only five minutes, they took a deserved lead. It took some time for Macmillan boys to get up to speed and start to gain some possession but before the first half came to an end we won some corners and started to cause King's Manor problems at the back.
We had finshed the first half strongly and started the second half with great spirit. After 6 minutes, Joe Wheatley found himself with time in the box and calmly picked his spot to score the equalizer. Five minutes later, Joe Wheatley once again popped up and put Macmillan into the lead. Even with the advantage of being a goal up it was still far from over and Jack Hanlon (Man of the Match) and the rest of the defence had to be on their toes as King's Manor fought to get the equaliser. Nonetheless, Joe Wheatley covered every blade of grass and gained creative control of the midfield, while Nathan Dicicco broke up any continuity that King's Manor tried to find. This set the stage for our wide players to get forward and cause King's Manor problems and resulted in a free kick close to the right hand corner. The boys treated this free kick as a corner and put into play a training field move. This provided space for Sam Price at the back post to bring the ball down and fire it into the keepers bottom left hand corner. The game was sealed when Aaron Lightfoot scored the goal of the match by firing the ball into the top corner from just inside the box.
On Thursday we played out first away fixture at UCA and put on yet another grand display winning the match 9-1.