B&DYFL match of the week: South Shore Youth Blacks v St Annes Purples

That’s certainly the case for this South Shore U7s side, who are playing a year up and only joined the competition in January.

Manager James Strangwick told The Gazette: “We are a school year one team who formed last summer but we had to wait until they all turned six to start playing matches.

“It was a really good, end-to-end game, played in a good spirit at a very windy Common Edge.

“St Annes have improved massively since we first played them, so credit to them and their manager.”

The manager in question is Philip Leyden, who said: “It was a good game on a day a lot of matches were called off.

“We have really come together as a team recently and started to pass the ball about, and we’ve scored some cracking goals.”

Both bosses are looking forward to the final few games of this season and building for their under-eights campaign.

The Blacks have a Hogan Plate clash with Freckleton to look forward to this weekend.

Manager James added: “We can’t wait for next season.

“This season has mainly been about the players finding their feet on grass and getting used to that match feeling.

“We’re the only under-sevens team at South Shore and the club has been brilliant. They have really looked after us.”

The Purples had no issues bonding as a team – almost all the players are classmates at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary in St Annes.

“The team came together last summer. We have nine players and some of them have really come on,” added boss Philip, who will have three sons playing for the club at different age levels next season.

His Purples player of the match was Jude, who played in various positions including goalkeeper, while Hudson was the Blacks’ choice for his amazing attitude and tireless running.

Elsewhere, flooded pitches meant another weekend off for the U18 players.