Today marked a special occassion, as our Under 8 Villa embarked on their first football tournament of the summer. It was also mine and James' first tournament with the boys, so we were all looking forward to it. The tournament itself wasn't a huge event, with only 4 teams taking part, but it was essential to give the boys a taste of the summer tournament atmosphere. The other teams taking part were Rainford Eagles, Rainford Rangers, and Billinge Villa. Please read below to see how we did in each game.

   1. St Helens Town Villa (2-3-1) VS Rainford Eagles:

Jack Richmond; Ryan Cottington, Jacob Brown; Callum King, Kyle Smith, Lewis Vaughton; Joseph Dixon 

Substitutes:

Reece Rockish, Liam McGowan, Joel Whitehead

Score: 0 - 3

Goalscorers: N/A

Man of the Match: Lewis Vaughton - Plenty of endeavour, deserved a goal.

     2.  Rainford Rangers VS St Helens Town Villa (2-3-1):

Jack Richmond; Ryan Cottington, Joel Whitehead; Kyle Smith, Lewis Vaughton, Liam McGowan; Reece Rockish

Substitutes:

Jacob Brown, Callum King, Joseph Dixon 

Score: 3 - 1

Goalscorers: Lewis Vaughton

Man of the Match: Jacob Brown - Solid and dependable at the back.

   3.  St Helens Town Villa (2-3-1) VS Billinge Villa:

Jack Richmond; Jacob Brown, Joel Whitehead; Callum King, Reece Rockish, Joseph Dixon; Liam McGowan

Substitutes:

Ryan Cottington, Kyle Smith, Lewis Vaughton

Score: 1 - 0

Goalscorers: Joseph Dixon

Man of the Match: Callum King - Dominated the midfield, after downing 3 bottles of Coke and 24 cakes before the game.

Player of the Tournament: Kyle Smith - Very consistant throughout all 3 games. 

All in all, a fantastic day out for everyone. Spirits were high, the sun was shining, the spectators were great, and everything was conducted in a nice friendly manner. Most importantly, the boys enjoyed it, and managed to play some decent football as well throughout the day. They were a little unfortunate not to get some better results, but we'll keep trying our best when we go to other tournaments this summer.

A lot of credit must go to Neil Armson of Billinge Villa, who has organised and coordinated this event. It's been a big success, and hopefully we can do it again sometime soon with more teams involved.