A huge apology for how long the following write up has taken but due to one thing and another it just has taken a little longer than I would have liked, I will also post the edited photographs asap :-) Leeds Tournament The East Riding Electric Eels was invited by Leeds PFC to play in League A at the Leeds Powerchair Football Tournament held at the University of Leeds Sports Centre on Saturday July 6th 2013. The team (Kai Gill, Luke Brennan, Kizzy Blue Wade, Luke Atkinson, Amy Sherman and Jamie Hancock) and supporters were all very excited upon arriving at the centre and all looked very smart in the team kit, the team undertook speed testing and all passed with the help of Paul Wade who was again the team mechanic for the day, Kai Gill who was the team captain and coach then gave out instructions to the team and also gave a very encouraging pep talk that seemed to spur the team on even further. The supporters then made their way upstairs to the gallery and seemed to take over a large area where everyone could watch the games and also shout encouragement to the team. Lee Brennan was our designated manager and also undertook the role of linesman for our matches, so along with Paul Wade took up position at the side of the pitch. Our first match was against the Leeds White team, the Electric Eels dominated play right from the start and we was soon 1 goal up when Kai Gill scored for us, Leeds Whites soon attempted to even the score but our goalkeeper Amy Sherman was not going to be passed and saved the goal Kai Gills second Goal was not allowed by the ref as it was deemed that he pushed the ball over along with the Leeds goalkeeper and this, we soon found out, isn’t allowed! During the second half of play Luke Atkinson was in goal and soon had an attempt made by Leeds Whites, after a slight battle the ball managed to slip over the line evening the score up to 1-1. Kizzy Blue Wade managed to gain control of the ball and after taking it down the pitch attempted to score missing by a matter of inches the team was not deterred though and instantly took control of the ball again and Kai Gill managed to shoot the ball straight past the Leeds White goalkeeper scoring yet another fabulous goal! The game concluded with the final score being Electric Eels 2 Leeds PFC White 1. A great first game and start to the tournament. Our second match was against Middlesbrough Green Team, after the success of the last match Kai made the decision to keep Amy Sherman in goal which proved to be an excellent decision. The first goal was yet again scored by Kai Gill, he controlled the ball down the full length of the pitch, weaving through the opposition and scoring with a very clean shot. Not to be outdone Luke Brennan soon gained control and scored our second goal of the match, this was again a clean shot that was completed with a spin kick sending the ball powering over the goal line. Middlesborough Green soon retaliated and managed to get the ball down towards our goal, a huge battle then commenced with eventually the ball just going over the line, it was declared by the ref that this was a home goal and so the score was up to 2-1 to the Eels. Throughout the first half Kizzy Blue Wade was successfully marking Middlesborough players, first it was No.8 and then when he was taken off she continued to mark their No. 7 player, it was hilarious for the spectators to watch as she would not let them get near the ball, the Middlesborough players were baffled and frustrated by the tenacity of Kizzy and it certainly helped the team keep control of the game. In the second half of the game Middlesborough made several great attempts on our goal but fortunately Amy Sherman was totally on fire and they struggled to secure a goal, they finally managed to do so on their fifth attempt although again the ref deemed this was actually just touched by Amy so again a home goal, this evened the score to 2-2 with all goals being scored by the Eels. This was such a close played game with both teams congratulating each other on fantastic play, Billie McLaren commented at the end that she had never encountered marking as frustrating and as successful as Kizzy’s had been! A great game for the spectators to watch and cheer on The third game was played straight after and was against Yorkshire, this was a game that all of the Eels players realised was going to be hard work and wouldn’t be an easy game to win! We had the starting line-up of Kai Gill, Luke Brennan, Kizzy Wade, and Amy Sherman again in goal. It was a fast and furious first half with Yorkshire dominating the game, Amy was worked incredibly hard and managed to block goal attempt after goal attempt, at the end of the first half the score was 1-0 to Yorkshire which we was pleased with as so much of the play had been by the Yorkshire team. The second half began with Jamie Hancock taking Kizzy Wades place for the beginning of play, it was again totally dominated by Yorkshire although the Eels held their own and managed to save many goal attempts. The final score was 3-0 to Yorkshire, the Electric Eels all left the pitch with their heads held high knowing they had just played an extremely tough game of football and had all played well. Our last game of the day was against Leeds PHAB team, after playing for almost 3 hours solid the teams were feeling hot and tired and so the supporters upped the level of encouragement and this seemed to boost the Eels spirits. We dominated play from the start with Kai Gill scoring our first goal, the Leeds PHAB goalkeeper was doing a great job stopping so many goal attempts, he was unmoveable and blocked so many great shots by our team. Kizzy Blue Wade continued her trick of marking the opposition’s best players which essentially removed them from play, at the end of the first half the score was 1-0 to the Eels. The second half began and Kai Gill found extra strength and determination to score two more goals in quick succession taking the score to 3-0, Kai then made the decision to substitute himself for Luke Atkinson and also gave Luke the Captains position for the end of our final game, Luke’s smile spoke a thousand words, he was so proud. Upon entering the pitch Luke blocked one of Leeds PHAB players and Jamie Hancock managed to take control of the ball and stormed down the pitch to score another goal for the Eels. With only minutes left of the game and the score being 4-0 the Eels and the supporters were all extremely excited when Jamie again gained control of the ball and managed to get it to the Leeds goal, with help from Amy Sherman, who had come out of her position in goal, yet another goal was scored ending the game with a fabulous score of 5-0. After the games had completed the award ceremony began with medals and trophies being given out to the players, we eventually came out of the tournament finishing 3rd, we had 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 game lost. The players all received their medals with the biggest smiles ever seen and a great look of pride, Kai Gill was then awarded Most Valued Player of the whole tournament and was presented with a beautiful trophy, to win this award Kai had received the most nominations from all of the other teams present – what a fabulous honour! The whole tournament was a fantastic experience and everyone there agreed it was one of the best days the team has had, we met some other great teams who we are looking forward to playing against again in the future The Electric Eels supporters were noticeably the loudest and proudest there, which the players all agreed spurred them on even more. A huge thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of this tournament, you all did an amazing job!!!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 13:09:20 +0000
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