Italy Football Tour 2013
Footballers said ‘Ciao’ to their academy as they had a taste of Italy as part of a sports tour.
South Axholme Academy sent scores of under-14s and under-15s footballers to Verona for a six-day residential trip and tournament against tough Italian opposition.
John Spouncer, head of P.E. at the Isle-based school, had this report:
Under-14s
The under 14s side were jointly managed by Mr Spouncer and Mr Grimes and player time was taken fully into consideration to ensure the full 18-man squad all received the same amount of playing time.
The first game was played against Hellas Verona – the Academy team of the nearby professional side.
It proved to be a real education in football as the opposition were far less physical than their South Axholme opposition.
However, they gave the English team a true lesson in touch and control and passed their way to victory - with the final score 3-1 to Hellas Verona (Jamie Foulds with the South Axholme goal).
The second game proved to be the most successful in terms of results.
An entertaining game saw substitutes Jamie Foulds and Josh Daffern (2) score to give South Axholme a 3-1 victory over Giovanni, a local Italian side.
In the final game against Sona, there appeared to be a mismatch as the opposition were physically bigger than South Axholme. The final score was 6-0 to the Italians with Jack Mitchell outstanding in the away side’s defence.
Awards from our presentation went to Toby Smith, a classy ball-playing centre back, Ryan Douglas, an inspirational leader on the pitch, and the highly impressive year eight player Jordan Jenkinson.
Under-15s
Mr Barlow and Mr Bowmer travelled with a strong 16-man squad to Italy and had high expectations of performing well in their three games against their opposition.
v Villafranca: South Axholme’s under-15s’ opening game came against local side Villafranca. Starting with a traditional 4-4-2 formation - with a strong central spine of Debnam, Seaton, Sterling, Burdett, Masters and M Knight - the boys enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges.
The South Axholme boys were at first finding it difficult to adapt to the refereeing and struggled to play within the non-contact culture.
However, Matt Knight soon settled the nerves opened the scoring for the visitors with an excellent finish. He then added two further goals to complete his hattrick with Noel Burdett firing in the fourth.
Villafranca did manage to score a consolation goal.
v FC Sona: South Axholme was anticipating a difficult game against a private sports team called FC Sona.
They were there regional finalists and one of the strongest teams within the Verona area.
The Italian opposition started strongly and only some excellent goalkeeping by Munday and defensive work by S Brinkley and Debnam kept them at bay.
FC Sona managed to break the deadlock after 10 minutes of pressure to take a 1-0 lead.
Wigham’s neat header from a corner levelled the score at half time to make it 1 -1.
The second half produced a tactical change moving to a 5-4-1 formation with the team instructed only to press in their own half.
The Italians did manage to score early on, but this new system led to FC Sona hitting long balls and losing possession continuously.
The threat of Burdett up front worried the opposition and his excellent work resulted in an equaliser. Burdett and Sterling added two further goals to make the final score South Axholme 4 FC Sona 2.
v Mozzecane: After two victories, the boys were excited by the challenge of finishing their tour unbeaten.
Unfortunately, the opposition that had been provided was 16 and 17-years-old. South Axholme continued with their 4-5-1 shape and competed well for 20 minutes.
At 1-0, South Axholme had a great chance to equalise. As the game came to a conclusion the physicality of the Italians came into play with the final score being South Axholme 0 Mozzecane 6.
Special thanks go out to a whole range of local businesses and supportive parents who have made this trip possible through extra sponsorship including – Phillip Simpson ReFood UK Ltd, Paul Dixon PR Services, Andrew Sterling and Carys McMahon, Mr and Mrs Mitchell, Oceans Fish and Chips, Mrs Daniels and Linroyal Potatoes.
Report submitted by John Spouncer at South Axholme.
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