Holland Tour 2008 review part three

Under-15s

Boston United Centre of Excellence journeyed to Holland last week for the Amsterdam Cup. Under-15s coach Ray Power details how his side fared during the tournament…

SQUAD: Stewart England (gk), Andrew Hewitt (gk), Alan Carr, Daniel Cobb, Scott Dawson, Jason Field, Matthew Greensmith, Dominic Kew, Nathan Rippin, Haydn Roberts, Ryan Smith, Tom Vertigan, John Vousden, Charlie Ward, Tom Waumsley.

SATURDAY:
After a long journey to Holland on Friday, it was great to get a ball at our feet on Saturday. We were drawn in a group with one English side, Lee Rangers, and three Dutch outfits, w Olympia Haarlem, De Foresters and Zandvoort Selectie.

BUFC 4-0 Lee Rangers
The boys got off to a fantastic start in the tournament, adopting a new 4-3-3 system and promptly dispatched of Lee Rangers with goals from Tom Waumsley (2), Dom Kew and Tom Vertigan.

BUFC 2-2 w Olympia Haarlem
The side from Haarlem quickly became our main rivals in this tournament with their robust style gaining few friends. Having dominated the early stages, we found ourselves two down, having been caught on the counter-attack twice. However, a fantastic team spirit and player character saw us fight back to 2-2 with goals from Jason Field and Dom Kew (penalty). Valuable lessons were learned and we were to meet Haarlem again later in the tournament.

BUFC 4-2 De Foresters
The boys displayed the best football of the weekend in the first half against Foresters with a hat-trick from Jason Field and a superb individual goal from John Vousden before the break. The second half saw us sit back and concede two needless goals before we took control of the game again. The boys showed wonderful tactical discipline by slowing the game down and seeing the result out.

BUFC 0-0 Zandvoort
We needed a draw in the remaining game of the day to secure progression to the winners group. We did what we had to do in a bad tempered game, although both sides had chances to win it, with goalkeeper Andrew Hewitt pulling off a superb reaction save in the second half to ensure a clean sheet.

SUNDAY:
Having topped our group on Saturday, we found ourselves pitted against two English sides, De La Salle and Cheadle and Gatley, and two Dutch sides, SV Laren and, once again, w Olympia Haarlem.

BUFC 1-0 De La Salle FC
A somewhat nervous Boston United took to the pitch and found themselves playing a resilient De La Salle side. A 1-0 win, thanks to Dom Kew, settled us down and we did what we needed to do to hold out.

BUFC 1-0 w Olympia Haarlem
Our lasting memory of the Amsterdam Cup will be our healthy rivalry with the side from Haarlem. Having made a superb two-goal comeback against them the previous day, we wanted to show our class and get the better of the Dutch team. Chances came and went and with the last kick of the game, Jason Field expertly found the top corner to send BUFC into wild celebration.

BUFC 1-0 SV Laren
Another disciplined 1-0 win saw us collect maximum points from our three group games. A goal from revitalised centre-back Ryan Smith after a free-kick from defensive partner Scott Dawson saw us claim victory. This was a particularly pleasing goal, as both Ryan and Nathan Rippin reacted promptly to the keeper’s poor handling.

BUFC 0-1 Cheadle and Gatley
Our unbeaten record came to an end against Cheadle, going down 1-0 and looking extremely tired. This defeat, from a dubious penalty, meant we finished second in the group and progressed to the third/fourth place play-off.

THIRD/FOURTH PLAY-OFF
BUFC 0-0 St Wilfrids (Wilfrids won 8-7 on penalties)
A scrappy performance saw the play-off game go to penalties after few chances in normal time and the team from Fife were the victors after 10 penalties each. BUFC penalty takers were: Ryan Smith, Tom Waumsley, Scott Dawson, Dominic Kew, Daniel Cobb, Charlie Ward, Tom Vertigan, Haydn Roberts, Jason Field and Stewart England.

The tournament ended with captain Scott Dawson collecting the trophy after a weekend where we were only beaten once in nine games.

Boston United would like to thank Bakkavor Pizzeria, East Coast Culverts, Allseas Cargo, Castle Mouldings, Anglian Water Kesteven Sports and Social Club and Tesco Boston for their support of Holland Tour 2008.