There was no weekend lie in for Tenby’s Under 13s players on a lovely frosty early Saturday morning, where Tenby played Narberth in Llandissilo’s winter wonderland.
Tenby started the brighter, with a clear structure to their play. Tenby’s defence was looking solid with Oliver, Blake and George all looking composed at the back. Tenby’s defence gave the foundation for their teammates to attack with freedom.
The Seasiders’ dominance paid off, after Riley playing in a central role with Max, used his dancing feet to calmly put the visitors ahead.
Iori was creating havoc on the left as he intelligently hugged the touchline, creating so much space for himself to run the wide channel. Iori’s efforts were rewarded as he put his team two up.
After performing really well in training, Tenby’s Evan deserved his chance wide on the right, and he took the opportunity with both feet. Evan provided the strike force with some silver service crosses, with Elin taking full advantage, adding two clinical finishes in quick succession.
In between Elin’s two goals, you could tell Christmas was nearing as the ‘Toys’ were everywhere, Ollie generating the dynamism in midfield and Simon, the cheering energy in the terraces. It was lovely to have Ollie back with the team, and he duly added to Tenby’s scoreboard.
Just before the break, Archie, an exciting new talent, put the visitors 0-6 up at the interval.
Whilst the teams had a good chat, the supporters were looking for the mulled wine to have a little winter warmer.
Harry was showing his silky skills, with some lovely crisp passing to create opportunities. Tenby then extended their lead further with Riley and Iori getting their braces.
Narberth, not feeling downbeat, were putting pressure on Tenby’s back line, but Leo and Toby put in some crunching tackles to keep them at bay. Eventually, the home side’s pressure paid off, where they got a well taken goal.
The Seasiders were not willing to take their foot off the gas, especially Toby who was released from his goalkeeping duties (special thanks to Blake and Iori for volunteering to take over between the sticks). Toby wanted to stamp his authority on the game, and this towering defender added two great goals within a minute of each other.
The final goal of the match, was summed up by the Lightning Seeds’ great song ‘The life of Riley’, who notched up his brilliant hat-trick.
The final score was 1-11 to Tenby, with the performance being everything, rather than the score line.
Supporter Simon Toy gave the man of the match award to George for a brilliant display in defence, showing great heading, passing and composure.
Tenby fielded: Toby, Oliver, Leo, Blake, George, Evan, Riley, Max, Ollie, Harry, Iori, Elin, Archie.