Great Barr Primary School Finish second in the ‘Tony Robertson Memorial’ football tournament.

Kingsland junior school host a football tournament every year in memory of the late, Tony Robertson. This year the tournament was held at Cooksey Lane Playing fields on Wednesday 20 th May. Great Barr Primary School took what looked a strong squad of 9 players to take part in the 7 a-side football tournament. Several of our squad took part in this competition last year and were desperate to improve on last years performance where we missed out on a semi final place by one goal – a dubious penalty. Our squad was made up of- GK – Josh Watts ( c ) Def- Daijahn Byfield Def – Daniel Aboagye Def – Callum Jones Mid – Thierry Powell Mid –Jowell Grandison Mid / Stri – Cairo Hamilton Mid / Stri – Kalid Yafai Mid/ Stri – Kadeem Wisdom

The tournament involved 10 teams being split in to two leagues. The teams played each other once and the top two went through to the semi finals; where the winner of group A played the runner up of group B and vice versa. Based on last year’s results we found ourself placed in to, a tough looking, group A which included last years beaten finalists- Storywood. Group A Great Barr Storywood Kingsthorne Christ the king Twickenham Group B Glenmead Hawthorn Kingsland Kings Rise Warren Farm

Game 1 – Great Barr 3 v 0 Christ the king Any Pre-tournament nerves were quickly disposed of after a very promising start to the competition. Early periods of the game were fairly evenly matched but once Great Barr got a goal in front we took control of the game and came away with three good goals and 3 points. The first goal was scored by Cairo, he neatly slotted home from close range after Kadeem had played aa perfectly weighted through ball to him. Goal number 2 started from our defence. Callum cleverly remembered that there was no ‘pass back’ rule in the tournament and so when he was under pressure he calmly passed the ball back to josh in goal. Josh picked and distrbuted the ball forward towards Thierry. Theirry ten managed to get the ball under control, dribble forward until he played the ball to Kadeem who took his chance and scored. Thhe third goal was almost a repeat of our first; a Kadeem through ball (this time with the outside of his foot) through to Cairo who again showed great composure and scored. Man of the Match for this match was Thierry Powell. Thierry used his pace to great effect on a large pitch where there was plenty of space for him to dribble in to space and cause the other tem problems. His work rate was immense and on several occasions he worked hard to help out the team defensively.

Game 2 – Great Barr 2 – 0 Kingsthorne Our second fixture saw Great Barr come out on top of what was a tough end-to-end match. Both teams had chances but it was Great Barr who came out on top, winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Cairo and Thierry. Cairo showed great individual skill as he dribbled down the right hand side, cut in on to his favoured left foot and shot past the keeper, scoring at the near post. The other team then had three big chances to equalise. Firstly one of their players ran through on goal but josh made himself as big as he could and stood up for as long as possible and made a fantastic one-on-one save to deny their striker. They also hit the post and had a shot cleared off of our line by Thierry who was in the right place at the right time (thankfully). As the tension rose, Cairo managed to get hold of the ball near the halfway line and dribbled it down our right flank towards the corner flg. He weaved in and out of 3 defenders (showing great skill with his feet) and played a cross in to the box. Thierry managed to control the ball, whilst under pressure from a defender, turn and shoot the ball in to the back of the net. Man of the Match- Cairo. A goal and an assist and numerous examples of amazing footwork and dribbling ability.

Game 3 –Twickenham 0 v 1 Great Barr Our third group fixture saw us come up against Twickenham. The decisive goal was a spectacular, all be-it, lucky one. Cairo took a left- footed, in-swinging corner, from the right hand side and managed to curl the ball directly in to the net. Man of the Match- Cairo. Scored directly from a corner kick and his goal was the difference between the two sides.

Game 4 – Story wood 2 – 1 Great Barr Our last match of the group stage was against Storywood (last season’s runners up). A this point we had already qualified for the next stage, but for Storywood this match was of great importance as they needed a point to guarantee qualification, 3 points to finish top of the group and, if they had lost then they would not have qualified for the semi finals. Unfortunately for us, our 3 match winning streak came to an end as we were beaten 2-1 by a strong Storywood team. They had one player, in particular, who stood out with great pace, strength, power and technical ability, and it was he who scored both of their goals. Cairo got a consolation goal late on for Great Barr. This result meant that we eventually finished second in our group behind Storywood. However by qualifying to the semi finals we had improved on last seasons position (where we finished third in our group) and so it was already a great achievement from our team. The challenge now was to make sure we got to the final and, if possible could we go and win the tournament?

Semi Final – Glenmead 0 – 1 Great Barr The semi final draw saw us play against the winners of Group B, which happened to be against, our local rivals, Glenmead primary school. There were friends and mutual acquaintances on both sides, so it was an important game for both teams, for personal pride, ‘bragging rights’ and of course to qualify for the final. The semi final was a tight game, as you’d expect for a semi final match. Both teams worked really hard to pressurise the other and force them in to making mistakes and giving away possession. However, our dangerous, pacey attack had caused numerous problems for every team we had faced so far, and they continued to do so against Glenmead. Cairo created two chances for himself, one which he put agonisingly wide from close range and one which saw the Glenmead keeper make a great one – on – one save. But this time it was Kadeem who scored the decisive goal for us. Thierry used his pace and ran down the left wing. When approaching the by-line he dug out a great cross to Kadeem who managed to tuck the ball home in to the bottom right corner of the goal, out of the reach of the Glenmed keeper. The final whistle went, and we had done it, we had beaten our local rivals and had finally beaten our ‘semi final voodoo’ (the last three that we have gotten to have ended up in defeat for us) and we had made it to the final of the tournament.

Final – Storywood 3 – 2 Great Barr The final saw us up against Storywood, a re-match against the only team who had beaten us so far on the day. The final was very exciting match with 5 goals and nuerous more chances for both teams. Unfortunately, the fact that Storywood hd already beaten us once seemed to have an impact on our tem psychologically. We started the game very nervously, and gave them far too much space. Their key player, was agin at the heart of everything they did. He managed to get himself on the score sheet twice early on with very similar goals- using his pace and strength to glide past players, before reaching the goal and unleashing two powerful, accurate strikes past josh. However, towards the end of the second half, we had a chance were Kadeem hit the bar, and moments later, Kadeem converted from a Cairo corner. All of a sudden, we started to believe a little bit more and were a little fiercer in our tackles. Thierry also had a great chance to equalise. He ran past two players, found hiself one on one with the keeper but unfortunately dragged his shot wide of the goal. HT – 2-1 We started the second half full of belief, but unfortunately got off to the worst start possible. Within a few minutes, Storywood themselves had hit the bar twice and, sadly, scored a third. Athough disheartened slightly, Great Barr rallied together and continued work hard for eac other The lads seemed to realise they now had nothing to lose. Daijahn in particular started to get more control over Storywood’s key player and, therefore, restricted his influence on the game. Late on, Great Barr put the ball in to the opposition box, where it fell to Kadeem who volleyed home, giving us glimmer of hope of a great comeback. Unfortunately, however, we ran out of time and the full time whistle went. FT – 3-2 With a little more time we my have managed to get a third goal and taken the game to extra time but unfortunately it wasn’t our day. Overall the two teams were very similar and very evenly matched, but Storywood just hadd that one player who had that extra little bit of quality that made the difference on the day. Overall they were very worthy winners of the tournament. For us, what a great achievement, runners up in a strong football tournament where our only defeats were against the eventual winners. Add to this the fact that we didn’t concede a goal in our first three games and kept 4 clean sheets out of 6 games and it is clear to see how well Great Barr performed. Losing is never nice, especially not in a final, but the boys were and should all be very proud of what they achieved and how they performed.

Player of the tournament Cairo was named as the player of the tournament by one of the referees. An accolade he fully deserved; he was the scorer of goal of the tournament, he was arguably the most skillful player there, he finished as our top goalscorer, assisted with goals and was a constant threat to our opposition.