Parkdale FC – supporting Hope
On Thursday evening, our Y5/6 team played a County Cup match against Edwalton Primary (West Bridgford). We suspected this might be a bit of a tough one. Edwalton have been county champions for the last two years and their coach had mentioned that this year’s team is probably even better than either of the two previous ones. He wasn’t wrong!
From the first whistle, it was very apparent that the visitors had a lot of strong, top-level players, including one of the Forest academy’s current bright hopes. For a while, we were able to match our opponents, caused them some problems and kept their ‘keeper busy. As the game went on though, Edwalton’s physicality, fitness and technical ability helped them dominate possession. The final score was 11-0 and only some amazing goalkeeping from Jesse kept it down to that. Some of those eleven were unlucky deflections or unavoidable own-goals, but we kept our heads up. In fairness, the majority of the goals were just technically brilliant and you had to admire them! Our boys dug in well and can feel proud of their efforts. There were some great performances. Football at this level is tough going; it calls for a lot of resilience, but it’s character building and a life-lesson. Our team came through that challenge brilliantly and should feel pleased with themselves.