U18 Tour to France - Dourges International Tournament

Our squad comprised of our first year scholars (minus the injured Calvin Dinsley), two U16's who will be joining us in July (Josh Cooper & Liam Hughes) plus three of our existing second years (Rory McAuley, Lewis Carr and Sam Beagle) and one U16 trialist, Blaine Hudson. (See team photo)

We faced the hosts in our first game and won comfortably with a tap in from Brad Hunter, a Rory McAuley header and an own goal.

The next game on the following afternoon against Trelleborgs from Sweden provided us with a sterner test and the players responded not only to the improved quality of the opposition but also the challenge of trailing by a goal at half time. Another Rory McAuley strike from a set play equalised and the winner came from a great move involving four players and was finished in style by Jordan Patrick. The two goalscorers are pictured below.

Sunday was always going to be crucial in terms of possible qualification into the final with two matches against Eastern European heavyweights in Steaua Bucharest (Romania) and Banik Ostrava (Czech Republic). It is thanks to our friendship and association with Henrik Niss, a UEFA agent licenced to arrange tournaments throughout Europe, and our performances in these competitions that we are able to pit our wits against youth teams from clubs that have previously played in the Champions League.

Unfortunately, Sunday was a case of missed opportunities as we succumbed in the morning to Steaua Bucharest due to suicidal defending that cost us two goals. Our opponents showed all of their nous to defend their lead but we still managed to squander three great chances to grab at least a share of the spoils.

Despite struggling in their other matches to score goals (losing 1-0 to Trelleborgs & drawing 0-0 with Steaua), Banik Ostrava were the best team we played throughout the weekend. They were very powerful, strong defensively and eventually created enough pressure to force a mistake which led to Sam Parkinson handling on the line. The resultant spot kick won the points and reduced us to ten players for the closing stages, during which time we rarely threatened to equalise.

Despite a record of two wins and two defeats, other results meant we finished second in the group so whilst Steaua contested the final, we faced another famous old name of Eastern European football, Hajduk Split of Croatia. The match finished all square but the score only told half the story. Despite conceding a goal after just 90 seconds, we responded with our best football of the tournament. Two headers from Blaine Hudson put us in front but a goalkeeping error by Richard Mace gifted Split an equaliser in the closing stages.

John Yambasu deserves particular praise for his performance and he epitomised the increased workrate throughout the team. It's easy to make football look difficult, and difficult to make it look easy. In this match we worked earlier and our movement was more intelligent so enabled us to demonstrate the latter against technically adept opponents.

We spent many hours speaking to players between matches and emphasising different points, both individually and collectively, covering diet, technique, tactics etc. It is easy for players to say "I will do anything to be a professional" but then not back these words by actions. On tour, you can influence everything they do from eating everything on their plate at mealtimes, to hydrating correctly and spending time with them individually to address the weaknesses in their game they must work on. Hopefully, the intensity of such a tour and a reminder of what "anything" means half way through their two year scholarship will be timely in determining their progress next season.

We finished third in the tournament out of ten teams by winning the penalty shoot out 5-4 with Rory McAuley, Liam Hughes, John Yambasu, Zac Costello and Brad Hunter all keeping cool heads to score, whilst Richard Mace somewhat atoned for his earlier error with a vital save.

Although the final position was pleasing in such illustrious company, the developmental aspect of the trip was the real reason for our participation. Time will tell if the players can take on board the lessons they learned over the weekend and are willing to "do anything to be a professional", rather than "anything but..." followed by a list of reasons which will ultimately ensure they fail.

It will be interesting to see which players use the five days in France to really push ahead and how many can sustain this attitude throughout the season. Only then can the value of the trip truly be measured.

Jez George
Head of Youth Development

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