Posted: 1st May, 2008
The season kicked off for the Juniors last weekend and the sub juniors had their 2nd games. There were generally good results across the board with wins to the U18 Girls, U16A, U15A, U15B, U14C and U13D teams draws to the U18 boys and under 12C teams and losses to the U16 Girls, U15 Girls, U14B, U12A, U12B and U11 sides. The U16B and U13A sides had byes.
Highlights were very strong wins to the U18 Girls (16-2) and U15A (5-0) with a special mention to Ian Cowans U12C team who fought well to achieve a 0-0 draw. Congratulations to all the kids, no matter the result we know that each and every one of them tried their hearts out on Sunday.
With team selection just about sorted we are now into the normal season with issues such as access to training and playing surfaces likely to dominate my time. I should take this opportunity to explain why we have such challenges.
Currently we remain at 1 and a half surfaces under lights (for training) so access is restricted to 1 hour per week per team. The top park and the main park were resurfaced in the pre season, with mixed results. The top park appears to be the best surface I remember seeing on that part in 15 years, however it is new grass and the park is very heavily used. We will be monitoring the surface weekly.
The main park was resurfaced at the same time but it was not as successful, for a variety of reasons. To repair the surface, a few weeks ago the Council cut out some sections and replaced them with turf. This turf is now growing and we hope knitting in with the existing grass. At the moment the park is used for senior matches and emergency use only (i.e. no other surface available).
Anyway, we are hoping that Steve Wallace and John Shayler work their magic and we will have floodlights up around June, giving us extra training surfaces.
John Heskins
Vice President & Junior Co-ordinator