Report

I have been pleased with the boys on many occasions throughout the season for the way they have performed at times and for some of the results they have achieved.  On a couple of occasions though, I have been a little embarrassed and saddened by some of their conduct after matches but today they proved they are growing up. I have never felt so proud of them as I did today and they were a real credit to themselves, their parents, Andy and to Bourne Town Juniors. 
 We conceded an unfortunate penalty in the early stages of the first half and took a little while to get a foothold in the game, despite this, the boys gradually started to create a few chances of their own and kept themselves in the game without conceding again before halftime. 
 Stamford started the second half quite strongly again and scored a second, with a scrappy, scrambled effort. Bourne didn't panic though and were starting to put some nice moves together of their own. With only a few minutes left, Bourne broke forward in numbers with Ted having been asked to drop a little deeper, running at the defence. With Ben finding space too his left, Ted instead opted to go right and drove into the area and slotted home to complete a superb goal. This created the usual mayhem that a late reply from being 2-0 can create at all levels and despite attempting to throw on an extra striker and leave us with only one defender, Bourne huffed and puffed but could not quite find the finish to force extra time. 
 The boys were very gracious in defeat and were determined to enjoy the whole day regardless of the result. The Stamford boys and supporters were great as well and helped make it a good day all round and we would all like to thank them for that.
 We are aware that it is very likely that every game will be at least this difficult next season in what looks like being the top league, but a couple of improvements can be made on today's performance very quickly with a little more focus, concentration and ability to carry out simple tactical instructions in training and matches. In the same way that we can see good work done in training gradually coming into matches, it sometimes works against you as well - As they say Practice doesn't make perfect... It makes permanent. With the addition of a couple of new players and regularly playing against opposition of the calibre of Stamford, we should be able to give most teams a real run for their money before too long. 
 Max won the Player of the Match award for another excellent game, including some very clean catching in quite slippery conditions and confidently coming off his line to clear any danger.