Summertown Stars!
Cumnor took its largest tournament squad ever to Summertown, and for the second year in a row came away with the spoils. The squad was broken into three teams, all in our view with a realistic chance of winning. Perhaps the key difference was the assigned Manager? Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the runners up, and "you need a new coach" to those knocked out in the Q/F. The best we could have possibly done was three teams into the S/F and two in the finals, and perhaps only the draw stopped us achieving this. That said, it was not an easy tournament, with Whitton, Faringdon, Grove, Chasewell and "the Purples" all providing stiff competition. There was great excitement including a SF penalty shoot out win and a last minute goal to get out of the group. Overall an excellent effort, super football and a terrific squad of players.
The winners:
Matt "lucky charm" Lay - 7 from 8 now for Matt, anyone would think he played football for us. Fairly untroubled in the group stages, there when it mattered for penalties - two great saves from three pens;
Will - Usual effort and predatory instincts, got the goals that kept the team flowing, and selfless play in the final costing Dave O dear (GTA I believe);
Fyn - sniffed out a number of goals, created plenty of chances and got the all important GTA hat-trick;
Joseph - all action display, occasionally upset the opposition players and smashed home a brilliant shoot-out penalty;
Toby - the tournament defender - unbeatable at the back, and scored!;
Adam - HE WON!!
Dave O - spent the whole morning preparing, great use of "incentives", and has already polished his trophy twice. Ably assisted by Steve M on water boy duty!
Runners-up
Harry D - last years record of conceding no goals stayed in tact right to the final - unfortunately it couldn't be maintained. Some spectacular saves (even when the ball wasn't going in) and great distribution.
Charlie - an even better performance than Crowmarsh, very solid, no fear tackling and a Maradonna-esque goal to cap it all;
Cameron - quality play all over the pitch, strong at the back, creative in midfield and a threat upfront - shame he plays for Kingston!;
Kyle - like Charlie, a second Cumnor tournament and a second great display - a really positive addition to the squad;
Ben - all action effort, good creativity and then, under pressure, scored the goal that secured qualification to the knock-out stages;
Doddy - lovely skills, two great over-shoulder efforts, followed by a slightly more dubious over-shoulder hand-ball, on another day would have had a hat full - denied by great keeping;
Dave R - not as good as Dave O
Knocked out in the Q/F by the eventual Runners-up
Josh - uncomplaining in goal even if there wasn't much to do, however when called upon pulled of a few wonderful saves, particularly against the "purples" (zero goals conceded in qualification);
Michael - great defence, great midfield play (perhaps not a forward??), smashed a great shot into another teams gazebo (as well as a couple into the back of the net), made things happen;
Harry S - first time in a Cumnor shirt, showed great speed, both going forward and, when needed tracking back, arriving from nowhere to make a couple of important blocks;
Tom - like Harry, first Cumnor appearance, looked assured, moved the ball with confidence and a true team player;
James - filled his usual role upfront, scored when needed and almost scored the goal of the day - width of the post away;
Nathan - seemed to get punched kicked, tripped (once by the grass?) but kept getting up, fought valiantly and nearly snatched an equaliser in the QF;
Rory - recovered from being punched in the nose by his Dad to perform in his usual assured, confident way. Even worked out how to "draw" a foul and put it to good effect.
Tim - rubbish, if he was at Tottenham he'd be gone by now.
