HBU U13 team began their season this week with four games at Soham with three of the squad being u11 players- George Daly, Luke Huckstepp and goal keeper Jamie Leonard- and all three played well, great preparation for the upcoming u11 matches. Some of the other teams were competing in their 3rd tournament of the season and were well match ready as a result.

Ely are a strong club and are lying second in the league. HBU shocked their opposition by going one up through Jamie McVey. This set things up for an entertaining match with Ely stung into replying. Jamie scored again but Ely were 3 – 2 up at the interval. The 2nd half was a tough one but two goals from George Daly put HBU 4 – 3 in the lead. Ely brought it back level and with the game in the balance two HBU defensive errors gifted Ely two goals and saw them grab a 6-4 victory. This was a frustrating result after such encouraging play from the HBU team.

The second game was against a physically imposing Letchworth side but with the HBU team work making for an even match. HBU went ahead through Jamie, but in an end to end game Letchworth equalised. HBU Managed to build a 4 – 2 lead with further goals from Oliver Hudson and Jamie but Letchworth finished strongly to tie it 4-4 at the end. Both games showed glimpses of great HBU play, but a lack of concentration in defence was providing opportunities for the opposition.

HBU went into the third game seeking their first win of the tournament and quickly went goals up against Cottenham, ending the first half 3-1 ahead through Jamie and Oli. HBU went on to score a couple more in the 2nd half with Cottenham netting once. HBU spent the 2nd half camped in their opponents penalty area. Luke and Will went close on a number of occasions but too many missed opportunities combined with good goalkeeping frustrated the HBU players and the final score remained at 5-1 but HBU had their first win.

In their final game of the day and following a 2 game break HBU came back refreshed and again found them selves 3-1 up at halftime, solid defending in the 2nd half from Charley and good goalkeeping from Rhys allowed HBU to add 6 more in the second half without reply, running out 9-1 winners with goals from George, Will, Jamie and Oli.

Defensive errors cost HBU their earlier games. The last game showed the progress made in the day with strong performances from the whole squad that was pleasing to see. Goalkeeper Rhys travelled to the tournament later than his teammates following a football match in the morning and George returned in the early hours of the morning from a roller hockey tournament in Portugal.

A good first tournament with not much time to enjoy these results as HBU travel for their 2nd tournament next week. At Kings Lynn!

HBU Squad (goals):

Rhys Young (GK), Jamie Leonard(GK), (C) Jamie McVey(14), Charley Bassom, Oliver Hudson(3), Will Parkinson Wellard(1), George Daly(4), Luke Huckstepp.

HBU Kings Fish Bar Player of the tournament: Jamie McVey.