Boys represent Cambs with distinction
Both Cambs U16 Boys and Cambs u17 Boys were crowned East Champions this afternoon as a whole host of boys from City of Peterborough turned out to represent their county.
The U17 won for the 4th year running as a team. Having first won the East title as U11s way back in 2004/05, the boys had a couple of years off before storming back to win as U14, then U15, U16 and now in their final year at U17. The core of that team has been unchanged, with 4 of the team going on to HiPac/Futures Cup and in one case (Tim Clarke) England caps. The number of boys from the club has steadily grown – the original team included Marcus Howard, Joe Houghton and Adam Wilson but over the years the roster has grown, and now also lists Jordan Heald, Nathan Foad, Callum Rigby, Alex Vardaro and the newest kid on the block this year, Brian Yau. Following a routine 7-1 demolition of Herts a few weeks ago, and after the withdrawal of Lincs (due to a lack of players), the boys today were left to face Suffolk, and their oldest rivals of all, Essex. After a slow start against Suffolk, on a bizarre water-based pitch at Chelmsford which was a marsh in both 23s, and completely dry inbetween (no central water cannons!), the boys finally found their stride turning pressure into goals as Adam Wilson found the back of the net twice, either side of half time. Callum Rigby made some outstanding saves to thwart a lively Suffolk team who never gave up, and who finally did break their duck but too late to make a difference, leaving Cambs to win 2-1. Essex as usual attacked hard and fast from the start and forced some excellent defending from the Cambs team, but finally found a way through towards the end of the first half to lead 1-0 at half time. The second half saw some reshuffling of the team and concerted pressure on the Essex goal with a couple of shots narrowly wide, and Perry Foster having to be at his very best to make a series of outstanding saves from the Cambs forwards. Eventually Tim Clarke smashed a short corner strike past him to level the scores, and with just under 5 minutes left on the clock, Robert Radcliffe capped an outstanding game in defence with a great final touch to score the winner to huge cheers from the Cambs parents. It was a great final win after so many years, and great to see all the City of Peterborough players playing their part.
The U16s were somewhat more surprised at their victory, having lost badly to Essex in an early weekend. However they stuck at their task and beat both Suffolk and Norfolk to add to their earlier victory over Herts. With Essex having already dropped points against Suffolk, they could not find the pair of wins today which they needed leaving the Cambs boys to pick up the trophy as U16 East Champs. Cameron Heald led the way as captain, with Matt Anderson and Chris Pepper also playing in all 4 games. Additionally, David Fisher, Ben Newman & Sam Biccarino played against Hertfordshire and Esse whilst. Simon King and Ainsley Augustine played against Norfolk and Suffolk today.
So all in all a pretty good weekend for the boys!
The U15s and several girls teams were also playing today so more information will follow when I have it.
