CREDITON Youth Football Club’s Under Nine’s recently headed to the home of English football, St George’s Park at Burton on Trent, to play in a national five-a-side tournament.

The group arrived on the Saturday to enjoy the fantastic facilities and memorabilia from English legends past and present.

On the Sunday the boys got down to the business of playing in the tournament. As they warmed up, it was clear to see it was going to be a higher standard of football than the boys were used to. But credit to the players they rose to the challenge and won their first game!

A couple of single goal defeats, and a draw against the beaten finalists, meant they had to win their last game to have any chance of qualifying for the later stages.

Playing against a London-based side the boys gave it their all, twice levelling with fantastic finishes before succumbing to a late goal.

All-in-all it was an excellent experience for the players, who now know that they can compete at a higher level, and also a great achievement for the club.

As coaches we also learned a lot as well over the weekend.

The day ended with some of us watching England beat Panama in the bar at the England training ground. The English contingent seemed to enjoy it, the Panamanian’s and the Scot’s less so!

It was a lovely weekend and everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed it. A massive thank you goes to all the committee for its backing of this venture and to everyone else at the club for their support.

As always it was very much appreciated.

Tony Crosbie