St John’s Youth Triumph at Easter Football Tournament

"The boys were SUPERB!" (Tochukwu Okolo, Manager)

On Friday 6th April, the St John's youth football project, 'Goalside', took 2 teams to the Ambassadors in Sport Goalside Easter Tournament. In the U12 category, the boys from St John’s played very well through the group stages scoring some great goals and pulling off some amazing wins. Unfortunately they missed out on a top two finish by 1 point, and went into the 3rd place playoff game. They came out victorious from that game earning them selves a 3rd place finish overall which is an amazing achievement!One of the U12 players, Jimmy, earned himself the fair player award which was a big bonus for him and his team! Thanks to Joshua & Jonty who were the coaches for that side! Well done boys!In the U15 category, there was an equally impressive, and even more rewarding outcome to the tournament. They came out... Champions! The U15 captain, Chukwuma, led his troops Nmeso(Gk), Krystian, Shaun (who is a 12 year old in yr 7), Seydil and Michael to victory. They started strong in the group stages of the tournament, blowing away the opposing teams scoring 12 goals and conceding only 1, and so booked themselves a spot in the final. In the final they had very tough opposition coming against the side who had finished 2nd behind St John’s. But that did not stop them, as Krystian broke the deadlock half way through the final. This was shortly followed by another goal from Seydil to make it 2-0 to St John's. In the dying minutes St John's opponents had a chance with a great strike heading for the top corner until goal keeper Nmeso pulled off an absolute WORLD CLASS save tipping the ball on to the post earning himself a clean sheet and seeing the team through to be champions.On top of winning, striker Michael was awarded player of tournament, having been described as unstoppable. St John's manager, Tochukwu Okolo, said

"it was a solid performance from Seydil and Chukwuma at the back. On top of that a bunch of goals added in by Michael (5), Seydil (3), Krystian (2) and Shaun (2). I couldn’t have been prouder than all the boys today, as both teams showed great character and skill.”

A great day overall, and the boys are looking forward to more tournaments in the near future! Thanks to manager Tochukwu, coaches Jonty and Joshua, and also to Bridget Okolo for taking the teams to the tournament.