Whetstone Wanderers Football Club

Under 11 Lions

Team News

Congratulations to Connor Stevens who completed a trial at Watford FC and has been signed to their academy. We all wish him well there and thank him for his contribution to our season. Thank you to Paul, his Dad, for all his hard work and effort in supporting the team this season. It is greatly appreciated!!! Alex has also been attracting interest and has been offered trials at both Watford and Tottenham and we wish him well. As a result of that Alan Kelsey has kindly agreed to provide support to the team to the end of the season along with Darren Fenner who has kindly agreed to assist the team. I am grateful to both of them and to the club for stepping in to help the team.

Whetstone Lions have had an impressive start to the season having won all games in all competitions so far. The boys have really started to work as a team unit making it very difficult for the opposition to get chances on goal and to score. The boys have not yet conceded a goal at home and have only let in 4 goals in the league (3 of those to Finchley in the first game of the season!!) and 3 goals in cup competitions. Going forward the boys have played some wonderful football and this has been commented on by many of the opposition coaches. Every boy has contributed to the team's success and we are now top of the red division and in the League Cup Semi-Final and Challenge Cup Quarter-Final. However, we know that there are good teams in the red division and Nascot and Aldenham are chasing us hard so we need to keep working as a team unit in all games. We have a big game against Omonia Green next in the Challenge Cup and we look forward to hosting them at Woodside Park. Kick Off is 10 am on the tennis court pitch. 

Match Reports

16th March v Nascot Wood - Match postponed due to waterlogged pitch

This match will be re-arranged later in the season

9th March 2008 : Challenge Cup ¼ Final v Omonia Green 1-1 AET (Won 3-1 on penalties)

This was a full-on cup tie with everything including a nerve-racking penalty shoot-out!! Omonia always come out at us and this was no exception and they went 1-0 up with a lovely headed flick on from a set piece. Whetstone were really up against it made worse when Alex got a late crunching tackle and had to leave the field for the rest of the first half. However, the boys fought hard and got a stroke of luck when Whetstone pressure resulted in Omonia conceding an own goal. In the second half Whetstone got into the game and created chances but just couldn't put them away. It went to extra time and then penalties. The first 2 on each side missed but Alex and Jack were cool under pressure to slot theirs away with one penalty put in by Omonia. It was left then to Nicholas, against his old team, to calmly score the winner to take us to a semi-final game against Borehamwood. All of the boys played well under pressure and the whole team got the man of the match. Well done to Omonia for a hard-fought game.

2nd March 2008 : League v Hadley Wood Foxes W 4-0

This was a much tighter game than the score would suggest as Hadley had a lot of possession in the first half and our defence had to work very hard in difficult windy conditions. A freak first goal for us saw Fabio hit a great strike at the Hadley keeper who lost control of the ball and could only watch it go in. In the second half we got control of the game with the wind behind us and a really impressive performance from man of the match Alex saw him feeding balls from centre midfield to Giorgio, James, Fabio and Harry and this eventually paid off with a great strike from James, a goal from Tony and a good finish from Harry. Great defensive work in the first half followed by good attacking play in the second half resulted in an impressive team performance from all boys. Well done to Hadley for a good competitive game played in good spirit and we wish them well for the rest of the season.

24th February 2008 : League v Abbots Youth W 4-0

Abbots must be wondering what they needed to do to get something out of this game as they competed really well in the first half to keep it at 0-0. However, after a change of team shape in the second half Whetstone started to play the free-flowing football we have become used to and eventually chances came and the deadlock was broken with great quality from Connor who carved open their defence with a wonderful run from the halfway line to finish off a great goal. Connor added a second to his tally with Geo and Nicholas scoring as well to make it a strong win but this score does not do justice to Abbots who gave us a really hard game and played some excellent football. The whole team were awarded man of the match for another very strong team performance but Connor was very impressive today showing the quality we have seen over the season (when he's there of course!!!). Special mention also to the defenders who worked tirelessly throughout the game!!

17th February 2008 : Challenge Cup v Everett Rovers (Round 3) W 6-0

Up against our rivals from last season, and the only team to have ever beaten our boys in competitive WFL football when they won the League Cup final against us last year, we took a little bit of revenge for that and played some wonderful football to eventually run out 6-0 winners. Geo was on fire and got his hat-trick in the first half with a great display of forward play. Again, the boys passed and moved with great skill with every single player involved and competing for every ball. James was very strong and scored two good goals which edged him for man of the match, although Geo did push him hard for that honour. However, once again a strong team performance from defence through to attack has resulted in an impressive win against a good team.

10th February 2008 : League v Nascot Eagles W 1-0

This was by far and away our toughest game this season as we were up against a quality team who fought hard throughout the game. Both teams played excellent football that was competitive and, at times, of the highest quality and it was down to a great strike from Nicholas in the second half to win the game for us. Tom made a magnificent save from a fierce strike from Nascot in the second half and Tony and Jack were tireless in defending right through to the final whistle. James was strong in attack and defence, Alex gradually started to make opportunities for Geo in the second half and Harry and Giorgio worked hard on the flanks in the first half. Well done to both teams for an excellent game and we look forward to meeting Nascot again at their ground on the 16 th March.

The Squad

Results

Fixtures

Game v Aldenham Sharks 20 Apr (League) will be re-arranged