Under 15s win Summer Tournament: posted 20 Aug 2007
NEWCASTLE EAST END JUNIORS FC hosted their Under 15s Summer 2007 festival on the weekend of 18/19 Aug. Although the weather wasn't very summer-like, the two-day festival, held at their Swans recreation ground, Stotts Road in Walkergate certainly produced some bright football.
The 7-team festival format saw all teams play each other once, with the top two teams going into the festival cup final, whilst there was a play-off for third place between teams finishing 3rd and 4th.
Day one kicked off on the Saturday with Davey's U15s clinching all 3 points with a 2-0 win over Newburn Blues with both goals coming from Ryan Richardson, meanwhile Northburn Wanderers and Grainger Park Panthers shared the points after a 1-1 draw.
Ashington AFC got their festival off to a winning start with a 2-1 win over Longbenton and Killingworth Barca’s first game ended in a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Northburn.
The weather had eased up and the conditions for a days football were almost perfect as the second round of group games took place, Newburn picked up their first points beating Grainger 1-0, meanwhile East End were held to a 1-1 draw with Ashington, who were awarded a penalty after Liam Coppock was adjudged to have pulled down the left winger, Jake Sansom netted for the Northumberland team to give Ashington a 1-0 lead, East End however started to create more chances at the other end and eventually a through ball from Grant Short sent Ryan Richardson through to slide the ball under the keeper to level the match, Ryan could have wrapped up the 3 points after a one on one in the last seconds was saved by the impressive Ashington keeper.
The final round of games on day one saw East End sit top of the group with 10pts from 4 games after they extend their unbeaten run with wins over Grainger Panthers, 4-0 and Northburn Wanderers 2-0. Ashington were in joint second place on 7pts having played 3 games and followed up their draw with East End with a narrow 1-0 win over Killingworth Barca. Northburn shared 2nd place on 7pts but having played 4. Sitting in the final play-off position was Longbenton, who had won their last game 2-0 on day one with an impressive display against Newburn Blues.
The final group games took place on Sunday Morning, as all 7 teams returned. The weather this time however was duller and wet, yet the football continued to be of a good standard, and certainly didn't’t dampen the spirits of the players.
The short straw for the early kick off went to the bottom two teams, Grainger Panthers and Killingworth Barca. The points going to Grainger after a 2-1 win. 3rd and 4th played each other as Northburn edged a close game 2-1 against Longbenton, meanwhile Ashington went joint top as their unbeaten run continued with a 3-1 win over Grainger.
The hosts got their last two games underway with a 2-0 win over Longbenton with goals from Ryan Richardson and Carl Lattimer, as the top 2 started to pull away from the rest of the group Newburn put themselves into contention for the play-off position as they got day two off to a winning start with a 3-0 win over Killingworth.
The penultimate games saw both East End and Ashington clinch the places in the festival cup final, Ashington winning 1-0 over Northburn and East End hitting 5 past Killingworth without reply with goals from Alex Armstrong, Ryan Richardson, Carl Lattimer, Alfie Stanley and Andrew Robson.
As we went into the last group games, Northburn were guaranteed a play off place yet the 4th spot was still up for grabs and between 3 teams.
Newburn Blues held 4th place on 6pts as they faced Ashington knowing with a better goal difference a draw could put them through. Longbenton and Grainger were joint 5th 2pts behind Newburn, yet this one was a winner takes all to try and catch Newburn, a draw here would see Newburn go through even after a defeat. Both games kicked off at the same time, Newburn however always knew this was going to be a hard game and after going down 0-2 they sweated on the other result hoping for the draw. With 8 minutes left, Grainger broke down the left and a ball into the box was converted by Asadollah Ibrihimi to push Grainger into 4th. However with only minutes remaining Longbenton were awarded a penalty, however the dance factor movements of Grainger keeper Ryan Adams was enough to put Longbenton off as he saved the penalty and the rebound was lifted over the bar to break Newburn's hearts and put Grainger into the play-off final.
The third placed play-off was close game and looked like going to extra time when with about 5 minutes remaining Northburn Wanderers Chris Lister broke away on the left wing and his pass into the box was dispatched into the roof of the net by Daniel Sung to claim 3rd place.
The final saw the only two unbeaten teams, East End and Ashington face each other, and after the earlier 1-1 draw between them it promised to be a close game. East End had only conceded 1 goal on their way to the final, and that was the penalty by Ashington. As with football however football is never predictable as East End raised their game another notch and totally dominate the festival final.
East Ends Ryan Richardson opened the scoring after a break down the right and sliding the ball under the Ashington keeper. More goals quickly followed as Ashington struggled to keep up, Ryan completed his hat trick when Carl Lattimer split the defense with a through ball. Carl then hit a 20 yarder, Anthony Gregan scored a fine solo goal passing through the Ashington midfield and defense before placing the ball into the bottom right corner and the scoring was complete after Ryan crossed from the right and Elliot Dixon nipped in front of the centre half to flick in at the near post to give a 6-0 win to the hosts.
It was maybe a game too far for an impressive Ashington team who along with Northburn certainly played some attractive passing football. East End though followed up their NABC 6-a-side tournament win by yet another competition without conceding a goal from open play throughout. Both East End and Ashington were promoted last season to the NABC Div Two and should look to be pushing for promotion to Div One.
The first Under 15 festival at East End had proved to be very successful and was exactly the kind of activity that was planned when the club completed their huge redevelopment of the Walkergate venue over a year and half ago. The drainage across all pitches also proved valuable, as the playing surface was excellent, despite the weather. The extended car parking, changing facilities and lounge area were a welcome respite for over a 150 players and spectators each day as they took full advantage of the clubs canteen. Although the festival helped raise funds for the club, who like all other junior clubs run on volunteers, this was more about showing what Newcastle East End are capable of providing for the local community and fellow junior clubs in the region.
