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So close yet so far for Owls
Oakwood Owls took part in an annual youth service 5-a-side football tournament. Read match report here.
The Owls had reached the final of this competition on both of it's previous 2 occasions, losing out 4-2 last year & winning the title in 2005.
The compeititon started well with the team remaining unbeaten in all of their five group fixtures, scoring an incredible 20 goals, while conceding just 3.
They topped their group, emerging victorious over Bellbrokes (4-0), Nowell Mount CC (3-0), Torre Mount (5-3), Manston (1-0) & South Gipton CC (7-0) on the way to reaching the semi-final stage.
The semi final proved to be the team's best performance of the day, as excellent finishing & team play saw them sweep away Torre Mount 4-0, ensuring yet another cup final appearance in this competition.
But it was by now clear that all of the participants were starting to suffer from the intense heat, as the searing sun shone down throughout the day, forcing teams to play to a much slower pace than our boys are used to.
In the final they again met Manston,who they had already beaten 1-0 in our group matches. A slow paced end to end game eventually saw them edged out 1-0 after a defensive mix up.
Rod Christopher of Oakwood Owls said: ''We did excellent to again reach the final, but we really should have won this one. The boys obviously tried their best in the final, but our best simply wasn't good enough today. I also felt that not enough of our players ''wanted'' the title badly enough, as only 2 of my 7 man squad come out with any real credit from that final performance''
"We've now reached 9 cup finals out of the last nine tournaments entered & losing at this stage seems to be a mental issue among some of our boys. It seems to be our achilles heel, losing out in the cup final stages & we must put this right very soon. I think if we can just win one tournament, the rest will follow as our confidence & belief grows. The players must prove to themselves that they are worthy of winning the big games, not just in friendlies or group stage matches. I'm certainly not enjoying collecting silver,but at times it appears that some of our players are''
Rod added: ''They have to prove to me & themselves as young people that they are a team of real winners. They need to show that they can overcome this hurdle & approach every future game with a lot more fire in their bellies from the offset. I feel that a lack of passion is what ultimately cost us here & we cannot put it all down to the hot sun. For me, our opponents wanted it much more than us & got exactly what they deserved in the end. I look forward to seeing how our boys respond in training this week, as our next competition is only a matter of weeks away."
Oakwood Owls Youth Service Tournament squad: Richardson, Owino, Rodley, Lockwood (Capt), Carr, Griffin, Walker
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Weather for Leeds
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
