The U18’s played their North East clubs preliminary round at the KC stadium on 2nd of June. Whilst this was the North East round all the sides entered were from the Yorkshire region.

Rotherham’s opening game was against Ben Rhydding, who earlier in the day had lost to Driffield 1 – 0. Rotherham went behind after five minutes to a scrappy goal due to poor marking. However we came back strongly and equalised through Nick Fletcher. Rotherham made several more chances but were unable to take them until late in the game when Nick Chapman hit a 40 yard diagonal pass from the left hand side of the pitch on our own 25 to Dean Burrows who made a great run to pick up the ball on the oppositions 25. Dean attacked the D and passed to Rupert Allison who had a shot at goal and Nick Fletcher was on the post to direct the ball home.

Our second game was against Sheffield Hallam H.C. Being a local derby, this was always going to be a competitive game. Whilst there were chances at both ends and good saves from both the Sheffield keeper and David Tunks in Rotherham’s goal, the game ended 0 – 0.

Rotherham’s third game was against Leeds and we needed a win to see us through to the finals in Manchester. With a squad of 13 players and a very hot day the team was running out of energy. The team worked hard and scored through Nick Fletcher (who else). A hard pass was given to Nick who swept the ball with an open faced stick up over the keeper whilst facing away from the goal. Leeds always looked dangerous on the break but great tackling from Will Roe, Joe Smith and Fraser Andrews restricted the oppositions scoring opportunities. Sweeper Andrew Marshall (do I have to mark anyone if I play sweeper?) always looked in control. Rotherham created several more chances but were unable to convert. Will Roe had to leave half way through the game and Rob Mills, having sustained an injury in the first match, replaced Will to play out the remainder of the game and made sure the Leeds forward didn’t cause any problems. Dario Desoysa came on in a forward position and added fresh legs to the attack, doing a lot of chasing and pressurising the Leeds defence into errors. The final score was 1-0 to Rotherham.

With a break of only 5 minutes, Rotherham were then into the last game against Driffield. Driffield were looking for a win to take them through to the finals. Several Rotherham players were carrying injuries and a rota system ensured we had enough players on the pitch to see out the game. Rotherham took the lead through Nick Fletcher. However Driffield scored to level the game through a short corner. Rotherham had several chances to regain the lead with Martin Marshall making great runs down the right hand side, cutting the ball back to the top of the D only to see it go between two Rotherham players. The game was getting stretched with players from both sides making the runs forward but being unable to get back. Rupert Allison and Fraser Henderson continued to display the hard work they had shown in the midfield all day and bridged this gap. With 10 minutes to go, Martin Marshall picked up a pass from midfield and attacked the D. The Driffield keeper made an excellent save again but this time Dean Burrows was on hand to pick up the rebound and score the winner. It was now about holding our shape. The team was exhausted and passes started to go astray, but everyone continued to win the tackles and it was always a Rotherham player that came out with the ball.

Throughout the day David Tunks made some excellent saves and produced his best games in a Rotherham shirt that I have seen. Rupert Allison as captain sets an example for work and endeavour which all the team tried to emulate and in doing so finished second on the day to Sheffield on goal difference.

Well done everyone and it all starts again on 24th June at Belle Vue, Manchester. Thanks to the umpires who included our own Roger Uttley, and to all the parents who gave all the team their support.

Teams	Points	Goal Difference
Sheffield	10	+11
Rotherham	10	+3
Driffield	4	-6
Ben Rhydding	3	-1
Leeds	1	-5

The Squad
GK David Tunks
2 Andrew Marshall
3 Will Roe
4 Joe Smith
5 Rob Mills
6 Nick Chapman
7 Fraser Henderson
8 Fraser Andrews
9 Rupert Allison
10 Martin Marshall
11 Nick Fletcher
12 Dean Burrows
13 Dario Desoysa