U9 Tiger's 1st Cup Game for Brandon

Yesterday Brandon’s U9 Tigers had their first ever Cup match in the South East Essex mini Soccer League. Having played non-competitive mini-soccer for 4 years + this was their first real experience at a competitive game which actually meant something. It was quite simple – lose and they are knocked out of the Cup in round 1, win and they progress through to round 2. With the competitive edge added to the game the nerves and tension throughout were at unprecedented levels and you could see the coaches, players and parents all getting so much more involved in the game.

We were playing Rayleigh Boys and on paper it should have been a relatively easy game for our Tigers. However Cup day changes clearly things and the Tigers played dreadful football and really struggled. Whether it was the nerves or the pressure, I have no idea. We were against the wind in the first half and took a promising early lead, after this we seemed to struggle to clear the ball from our own half and just before half time conceded the equaliser. To be fair to the other team they could have been 3 or 4 up in the first half had it not been for Connor (our goal keeper) who was pretty much the only kid playing his heart out (earning him MOTM).

Given how badly we had played, I was happy to come in 1-1 at half time knowing that the wind would now be in our favour. It took a while coming but half way through the second half the Tigers finally managed to get the 2^nd goal and I have never been so relieved to see us score – I really didn’t want this to go to extra time or even worse penalties!. Once the second goal was in we hung on for dear life and that final whistle couldn’t come soon enough.

So all in all a very edgy experience in our first Cup game. I’ll take the win and now we progress through to round 2 – but boy have we got to pick things up if we are going to progress further in the tournament. For the first time in my coaching experience I could really see how people emotions take over in a football match as soon as it becomes that bit more competitive.

All smiles after the Cup game win, but this was no walk in the park and heart beats were certainly racing today!