Tenby U11s tour to Villarreal

Tenby U11s (12 boys and 15 adults) have returned safe and sound from a fantastic tour to Villarreal in Spain. During the four day trip the boys attended one-and-a-half hours of training each day with some of the coaches from the Spanish La Liga team at the Villarreal training ground. The boys loved the experiences of training and using the facilities at this amazing venue and were also lucky enough to watch Villarreal first team train, and even got to meet and get autographs from the manager and a couple of players during a training break, much to their delight.

The boys also enjoyed a Villarreal stadium tour where they got used to giving press interviews and the experience of using the players changing rooms. The Villarreal shop also proved popular amongst the boys!

The third evening saw the boys play a local game arranged against a strong L’Alcora boys team at their home ground in front of a Spanish crowd. The boys were eager to impress and the first quarter they played some of the best football they’ve shown all season. Tenby well and truly matched the Spanish flair and skill and were over the moon to win with the 9-4 scoreline at the end of the game. The team presented the L’Alcora captain with a Tenby AFC U11s playing shirt and in return Tenby were presented with a club crest, it was one happy coach trip back to the hotel.

The weather was glorious over the four days and the boys thoroughly enjoyed their free time at the beach and around the pool area, taking part in swimming races against other schools, sports quizzes, and even a mannequin challenge for the Swedish girls football team.

Much thanks goes to coach Angela Nicholls for making the tour possible in the first place and for making sure all ran smoothly whilst we were there. The boys were fantastic ambassadors for Tenby AFC during the tour and they thoroughly enjoyed every second of the trip.

Pictured are the team meeting Villarreal coach Fran Escriba.

Touring squad made up of Kyle Rossiter, Toby Price, Iorri Badham, Iorri Richards, Rhys Richards, Max James, Tristan Kraus, George Jones, Dylan Duffy, Ewan Duffy, Dylan Kidd, Jack Nicholas, together with coaches Angela Nicholls and Bernard Steer.

Back to reality for the U11s: Following some of the players recent tour to Villarreal, it was back to reality with a bump this weekend as they travelled to Merlins Bridge to play not only back on grass, but also in the cold chilly wind. The first quarter Tenby were dominant showing some creative passing between defence and attack. Despite some superb saves from the Merlins ’keeper, the score at the end of the first quarter was 7-0 to Tenby. The second quarter started slow and the game was end to end, it took a while before Tenby were able to increase the score, and at half time the score line was 11-0. With the Easter eggs kicking in, Tenby only managed two further goals in the third quarter. The last quarter saw some more physical defending from the Merlins defence and Tenby were unable to finish off some lovely passing from midfield. The final score finished 17-0. Another overall solid performance all round.

Team: Iori (4), Dylan K (3), Morgan (3), Jack (2), Max (1), Toby (1), Dylan D (1), og (2).

Tenby U10s

Tenby Under 10s entertained Hundleton at the Clicketts last Saturday.

It was a perfect day for football and Tenby were the first to appreciate this and attacked the opposition at every opportunity. Keaton, Logan and Ollie were lively from the start and Tenby created a hatful of chances which were sadly wasted, so it was a huge surprise to see there not being any score at the end of the first quarter.

A change of ends and the Tenby team set-up, led to the visitors getting more ball possession, but Charlie didn’t look likely to concede in the Tenby goal. Persistence finally paid off, when Sonny chased a lost cause to set-up Ieuan for the opener.

The third quarter became more open and the Tenby defence was under threat, with Iwan in goal being tested on several occasions. The defence which included Liam, Nathan and Ethan were stretched with the midfield not tracking back to support the Hundleton attack. So it was with no surprise that the visiting side equalised.

But back Tenby came and goals from Sonny, Harry and Sonny again, opened up a 4-1 lead.

But Hundleton to their credit never gave up and deservedly came back strongly towards the end to draw the match 4-4.

A disappointing display from the Tenby side who were left to ponder on what might have been, had the early chances been converted.

Tenby fielded: Charlie, Liam, Ethan, Ieaun, Harry, Logan, Sonny, Keaton, Ollie and Iwan.

Tenby Dragons u8s

The Dragons hosted Narberth last Saturday in the return fixture of the season on a lovely Easter spring morning.

Captain for the day was Tyler who led from the front with a great game.

The Dragons started brightly with Bailey coming out of the traps like a boy possessed, covering every blade of grass and tackling everyone within sight. Narberth opened the scoring in the first quarter against the run of play to take a one-nil lead after the first 10.

The home side’s dominance in the first half eventually paid dividends with Bailey scoring an absolute right foot blinder from long range.  Lovely skill and interplay between Dylan and Ethan gave Ethan the opportunity to put Tenby into lead which he duly did with effortless precession.

The Dragons continued to play very well during the middle section of the game with Evan highlighting great dribbling skills to weave his magic around the visitors. George scored the Dragons third of the game to add to his numerous tally of goals for the season. Tenby’s wing backs of Lucas, Bailey, Sam, Tyler and Jesse offered a great shield to the defensive alignment whilst giving added width to the teams attacking prowess.

There was great fair tackling from each side on display with Tyler and Louis from the Seasiders’ notably being high on the tackling count. Well done boys.

Narberth pulled a goal back before the Dragon’s Ethan added another goal to his growing repertoire.

In the final quarter of the game, Narberth certainly put the home side under pressure. Narberth had an indirect free kick which glanced off a Dragon’s player to take their scoreboard to three, then the away side equalised before the final whistle to make it 4-4 for an entertaining morning at the Clicketts.

Man of the man for the hosts was Bailey who was simply outstanding, he was everywhere!

Team: Jesse Craig, Bailey Joyce, Tyler Simpson (capt.), Lucas Rhys-Davies, Louis Rapi, Sam Hughes, Dylan Sine, Evan Christian, Ethan Lewis, George Morgan.