Saturday 10th May saw two teams from Tad Albion attend the Ulleskelf Tournament. The red team made up of Alfie, Harry, Justin, George, James K, Louis and Ethan; the blue team made up of Saul, Charlie, Joseph, Adam, Sam, James O and Edan.
Both teams did brilliantly to make it through to the knockout stage.
First up were the red team, having won 1, lost 1 and drawn 1, they went into the final match against a very good (unbeaten) team from Kippax knowing that only a win would do. A tense match saw Tad sneak it 1-0 to make it through to the quater finals.
The blue team made it through their group unbeaten, the highlight was probably holding much fancied Fulford to a draw. A 1-0 win in their final game saw them finish 2nd in their group and set up an all Taddy Quarter final.
A close Quarter Final match saw the red team establish a 2-0 lead through goals from Louis and James K. Great goalkeeping from Saul kept the blues in the game before James O kept his cool to make it 2-1. The blues had a good chance for the equaliser but in the end the scores remained the same and the red team advanced to the Semi Finals.
Tad's opponents in the Semi were the Garforth Blues team. Tad were well on top from the start and when Louis was brought down in the box following a great surging run, James K stepped up to slot the penalty home. Against the run of play though Garforth equalised which set up a final nervy couple of minutes during which neither team could find a way through to score. 4 minutes of extra time still couldn't separate the sides and in the end the match went to a penalty shoot out. No doubt about the hero here - Alfie saved 2 penalties and then stepped up to bang in the winning spot kick .. get in !
Onto the final then, and another team from Garforth (why is it always them ?). Tad gave a good account of themselves in the first half, keeping the scores at 0-0. But in the end strength of Garforth's squad told as they ran out 3-0 winners.
All in all though, a magnificent effort from both teams. Many thanks go to Ulleskelf for organising a great tournament and we'll look forward to an invite next year ... so watch out Garforth !
