B&DYFL match of the week: YMCA Blacks v Thornton Cleveleys Titans
YMCA Blacks and Thornton Cleveleys Titans served up a highly competitive game for our Blackpool and District Youth Football League match of the week – and both managers agreed that makes for an ideal under-nines fixture.
Blacks manager Oliver Brindley told The Gazette: “It was our closest match of the season and our most competitive. That’s what you really want, it’s more important than the result.
“We were under the cosh for parts of the game but our boys defended really well.
“We’ve moved up a division again but we just want to be competitive and for the players to enjoy it.”
Titans boss Joe Coleman agreed, adding: “It was very close. Overall, a really good Saturday morning game.
“The minute’s silence for Remembrance weekend was brilliantly observed by both teams and by all the parents.”
These teams are in their third season in the B&DYFL, with managers who have been in charge from the start, and they welcomed the move up to seven-a-side in September.
We previously spoke to Blacks boss Oliver during their debut season and he added: “It has been a rocky road but we’ve improved a lot.
“We’re having our best season so far after moving up to seven-a-side. There’s a little more space and freedom for the players.
“I have taken this team from under-sevens but I have two fellow managers in Chris and Ian who work really hard.”
The Titans haven’t featured in this column previously and manager Joe added: “We have an absolutely brilliant set of lads. Some of them are new to the game this season but they are finding their way.
“We have some core players who have been with us from the start and we added five new players this season for seven-a-side. They have settled in and bonded well and we have lovely parents too.
“It’s my fifth year coaching at Thornton Cleveleys – I’d coached another team for two years before the Titans – and it’s an amazing club to coach at."
He wished to share the player of the match award between all the Titans players for a “brilliant team performance”, while Myles was named as the Blacks’ star man for being “absolutely resolute in defence”.