U11s Draw 4-4 with West End

Stalybridge under 11s drew 4-4 with West End Boys Club in a 'lively' encounter on Saturday morning at the Soccer School. 

This was always going to be a difficult game for Celtic with their opponents sitting at the top of the league having played two more games than the unbeaten Bridge, but within 35 seconds a ball over the top from Tom found Max who squared it to Bomber to score his 12th goal of the season and give the lads the perfect start. Tom doubled the lead from the penalty spot after seven minutes when Kai played in Max who was brought down in the box. However, West End came more in to the game as the half progressed and after James had made a fine save, they got a goal back after Celtic's defence switched off from a throw in.

The game really heated up in the second half as controversy rained. West End equalised despite their linesman flagging that the ball had gone out of play, the referee ignoring the shouts from the sidelines. They then took the lead from a suspiciously offside position, but Bridge responded immediately when Tom was brought down and the ref gave a second penalty. Nathan's effort from 15 yards rather than 12 was saved by the keeper, but Elliot was on hand to tap in the rebound. With five minutes to go West End restored their lead, but once again Celtic roared back. Brad's through ball put Max away only for him to be brought down by the keeper. The ref had no choice but to point to the spot once again and Tom stepped up to coolly make it 4-4 with only a couple of minutes remaining, or so we all thought. However, almost nine extra minutes were somehow played and in that time Bridge were denied another penalty, perhaps the clearest of the lot and Jack had a free-kick brilliantly tipped over the bar.

Despite some rather over the top comments from the sidelines, it was an enjoyable game between two decent teams who both worked hard throughout. There were excellent performances from both Max and Tom, but the man of the match award went to Jack for another all action display. 

FINAL SCORE: CELTIC 4 WEST END 4