Poynton Tournament cancelled/Alternative

Bad news - Poynton JFC told us on Thursday 27 May that due to lack of entries the organisers had decided to cancel the Festival this year.

Good news - there is an alternative tournament in the West Midlands on the same day, Sunday 20 June. It is a combined u13/14 age group, is 5 a side and we can get there and back in a day. We'll contact everyone, but we think we should go for this. Views please to Mike on 07901552261 ASAP.

What happens next?

Back on line after a week in an interweb black hole thanks to sorting out a faulty ADSL connection. So here is the news:

Thanks to everyone who supported the Festival on Saturday. We raised over £2000 so well done!

It was great to see so many girls out playing football on a glorious day. The presentation was made by a local care home who are sponsoring the club to the tune of £1300. Some of the funding will be used for new kits and equipment, for sponsoring one of the boys team and for contributing to coaching fees for the u16 girls.

Training for the u14s has now ended, but we will get together for training sessions in June prior to the Poynton Tournament on Sunday 20 June. Mike will need £5 from all who have said they can go.

Robbie Mills will be contacting Nicola, Laura, Ellie M, Olivia and Cara directly over the next week to arrange training dates for the 2010/11 u16s.

We will need to get all players signed back on for next season and signed on with the Wallasey League. Lucie has agreed to join the u14s next season and Rebecca Bower has too, so we have two experienced players already committed to the u14s for next season. Heather will be running some pre-season training during August for girls who are around in the summer.

We will be having an end of season Laser Quest/pizza night out in June for all the 2009/10 u14s. Date to follow shortly.

It has been suggested that we have a Mums v Girls match, so we'll get that sorted. Captain of the Mums team looks like being Lisa Berry. What do the Dads do then?

Finally congratulations to Cara who missed the Festival to travel down to Wembley to see Blackpool promoted to the Premier League. Well done the Seasiders and hope it was a good day.

Festival and other dates

The League may be over but there are a few more activities planned before you can all get out the Factor 20 and head off on your holidays. These start this Saturday with the Waverton Festival. This has two purposes really.

Firstly it is a club celebration of being awarded FA Chartermark status in March, a tremendous achievement for the which is the result of years of hard work getting the right structure in place, coaches qualified etc. This puts us up there as one of the top junior clubs in the Chester area and potentially will mean we can attract more funding.

Secondly the Festival is chance to bring some money into the club with the aim of being able to keep subs for next season realistic. The costs of running this club are high and we need to have a good level of income to ensure we have kit, equipment, can hire pitches and pay for referees, can insure our girls and pay fees to the FA and the Leagues. For example each home referee for this season costs us nearly £2 per Waverton player and over a season it all adds up. The u16s and u12s girls squads are supported by professional coaches who are paid by the club for their services. Fortunately we don't have to incur those costs as Mike and Heather don't take a penny not even expenses, but for the girls set up as a whole there are significant costs.

The Festival will take place over the whole day, but all the girls will play together in mixed sides from 10:30 to 11:30. Please be there by 10:00 am. Olivia is away but all other girls are required to attend. Cost will be £5 each. For those girls who haven't paid yet, Mike will collect on Saturday. Even if you have to pull out for some reason, the club as a whole still expects a £5 contribution from each player.

We will run a mixed training session this Wednesday - 6pm at Waverton, where we will decide on the teams for Saturday.

Once the Festival is over, the key dates are:

Wednesdays in early June - Training for the 2009/10 u14s 6-7 leading into:

Sunday 20 June Poynton Tournament (£5 per player required)

End of Season night out for the u14s- a Friday night in June at Laser Quest and then a pizza. Date to be confirmed.

Robbie will be contacting Laura, Ellie M, Olivia, Nicola and Cara separately in the next few days about training sessions for next seasons u16s.

2010/11 pre-season training will start in August lead by Heather.

This is not a level playing field

Wirral Hawks 5 - AFC Waverton 3

A long and enjoyable League season came to a close in Victoria Park Birkenhead on Saturday. Sadly it was a defeat that marked the final game, but one in which the Waverton girls fought very well and were very much in contention for most of the game.

On a sloping pitch that would have been a great sledging spot in January, the Wavertonites lined up with a strapped up Cara in goal, a back two of Emma and Ellie R, a midfield of Kiera, Lily and Laura and Nicola up front. On the imaginary bench were Ellie M and Olivia.

Waverton took their place on the upper side of the pitch, kicking down towards the Mersey, whilst the Hawks played uphill. Our plan was to tire them out and get a 5-0 lead at half time thereby destroying their ambition to win. Sadly things didn't go to plan, but they started off brightly as it was the yellow shirts who grabbed the game by the scruff of its slopey neck.

Within the first couple of minutes a ball in the box found Lily in the centre and she was unlucky not to score, getting winded in the process. A short while later though it was Nicola who stormed through and smashed the ball home to take her to equal place with Caitlin in the leading goalscorers. Nicola had a great chance again when she broke through but her high shot was last seen heading into the Mersey. Cara was awesome in the Waverton goal and her strong kicks were setting us up each time. Emma was brilliant at the back alongside both Ellie R and Ellie M in turn. The Hawks though got one back but Nicola grabbed another before the home team got two more before half time including a well iffy 'did it really cross the line?' goal. 3-2 at the break and time for Ellie Riste's inspirational chocolate brownies.

Playing up hill in the second half didn't daunt our girls as Nicola once again got a goal to make it 3-3 scoring an amazing 22 goals and knocking Caitlin off the top spot by a clear two goals. Game on.

The Hawks took advantage of the slope and Cara was powerless to prevent one of the goals and unlucky to let the other go under her, but given the reduced mobility in her wrists, she is blameless. At the other end, a number of other players had great chances including Ellie R who ran the whole length of the pitch but just couldn't get the final killer shot in. Olivia too had a great mazy run but just couldn't finish it. Emma and Ellie M were solid at the back, Kiera was leading from midfield and Lily and Laura were excellent with their running and sublime passing. Laura took a knock and lay on the floor only for the concerned referee to find her laughing as the supporters laughed at the fist aid bag carrying coach running to her aid. We'll get you back Laura.

Finally Ref Bill Downey blew his whistle and the 2009/10 League season ended. 5 hours later and 70 miles away, Mike witnessed a similar referee's whistle blow the end on 99 years of football league history, but that is a more personal issue.

The waiting lads moved onto the pitch. The Hawks voted Cara as MOM which was even more special as she had played with bandages on both wrists following a fall whilst out walking with her dogs on Friday. She is so brave and well deserved the accolade. Cara has been fantastic in goal in recent weeks and today she was a star.

Although she couldn't play on Saturday, we have to give praise to Caitlin who has only played 9 times but has scored a staggering 20 goals. Thats a better goal to game ratio than Drogba, Rooney and Torres all put together.

Well played girls. You have been a delight to coach all season. It's a shame the team has to be broken up again but we'll all meet again the season after next in the u16s. We have the Waverton Festival on 22 May then finally finishing the season at Poynton on Sunday 20 June.

Watch this space for details of our training schedule. Plus review of the season and news!

The final game of the season!

On Saturday we play our final game of the season, away at Wirral Hawks. It's been a great season too with some fantastic football played and some great moments. We'll be having a feature on the season soon on the website.

Will Nicola get the one goal she needs to catch up Caitlin as leading goal scorer? Will she score 2 and claim the top place?

So we're kicking off at 11:00 in Victoria Park Birkenhead. Please meet there at 10:40. Anybody who needs a lift call Mike on 07901552261.

Victoria Park is a really nice park near to Tranmere Rovers ground.

Take the M53 to the Clatterbridge junction (J4). Go up to the roundabout over the motorway and take first left. This is Mount Road the B5151. Follow this through Storeton past the Travellers Rest pub. Do you know this is where the stone for Chester Cathedral came from? Keep on this road for a while until you get to a funny little double mini roundabout. Take the right hand turn at the second mini roundabout onto Thornton Road. At the bottom turn left onto Borough Road and then first right onto the Wiend. Follow this through a junction and it becomes Mount Road again. Keep on this road and when you get to the end, you'll come onto a little funny roundabout. The park is on your right, but take third exit and park on the main road just after the roundabout thing or pull into Victoria Park Road on the right and park. The entrance is on the main road. If you get to the Black Horse pub on the right you've gone too far. If lost call Mike on 07901552261.

Training this Wednesday, final game on Saturday

Training with Heather and Mike this Wednesday 5 May 6-7. Final game away at Wirral Hawks this Saturday ko 11. more to follow.