Southend 2 - 1 York City Birthday Present

As usual today was a typical Saturday with the first half of the day occupied by the boys football club. We had a great training sessions today practising lots of new drills and then playing a round robin match with 4 teams at the end. Joshua performed very well on the Tiger's team and won this weeks "Player of the Week" trophy. Since we split Forest Glade Under 6's into 3 teams and recruited 3 additional coaches the sessions are flowing so well and the improvement in all of the kids is unbelievable.

 

Joshua was very pleased to win "Player of the Week".

The football didn't stop there as today we went to Roots Hall in the afternoon to watch Southend United play York City. This was Joshua's birthday present from Uncle Michael and was also the two boys first live football game. Both Joshua and Brandon have been really excited about watching Southend all week and fortunately the game did not disappoint as the home team beat York by 2 goals to 1 with a very late injury time second goal. 

Uncle Michael sitting with Joshua at Roots Hall Stadium.

The Southend team are introduced to the 9000+ crowd at Roots Hall.

For the first half Joshua pretty much sat with Uncle Michael the entire time. This was really good as Michael got to explain everything that was going on and to answer all of Joshie's questions (at the expense of his own viewing/concentration on the game). Personally I think Joshua really needed this experience today as he has never even watched an entire football game on TV, let alone live, and for that reason I think he gets a little lost in some of the friendly games he plays with Forest Glade. Hopefully this experience will now show him how games flow and how all the different skills come together to give him more of an idea when he is playing.

Half time and Southend are 1 - 0 up after Hurst's 6th minute goal.

During half time the boys were entertained by cheerleaders and the Southend United mascots. Joshua got to high five Elvis but Brandon kept his distance from the oversize characters.

 

Mr Pizza mascot getting high fives from all of the kids.

Shrimpy cheering on the youths as they take a lap of honour before the second half begins.

Joshua gets to meet another of the Southend mascots - Elvis.

By the time the second half started it was getting very dark and they floodlights illuminated the stadium.

Good seats and plenty of action right in front of us.

With 90 minutes gone this was the free kick which set up Prosser for his very late winning goal.

During the second half both boys started to really get into the football spirit and were extremely vocal to the point where Brandon was losing his voice by the time we got home. He was absolutely screaming "Come on Southend" at the top of his voice over and over again. There were some people sitting adjacent to us in another stand who were looking over at little B in hysterics at just how loud and involved he was getting. It was so great to see both boys thoroughly enjoying the game and getting into the spirit of things. 

And how cool is this, the Southend crew celebrated the win with a bundle right in front of where we were seated.

Joshua now cannot wait for next weeks football club as he wants to score a goal so that he can celebrate with his team by having a bundle in the corner just like Southend did! Overall the football game was a very enjoyable experience and great value for money. Both boys are keen to go back for more so it looks like we could all become Southend United supporters over the coming years. Good father to son bonding time if you ask me.