Furness Rovers under 8s

02/05/2026

This morning the little Rovers were up against Walney Blues at the Soccer Bar. Somehow it was our final official league game, which seems a little bit absurd as it's gone by so quickly! I had plans to chat to the boys afterwards, but these things rarely happen as I ended up searching for lost balls and putting barriers and cones away.

But a game against Walney Blues was a fitting one I think, as they've beaten us a couple of times and we've done the same to them. So in that sense a final decider on the last day was perfect for us!

It's been a decent end to the season and I was looking forward to the game as a chance to keep the recent momentum going. I feel like we're getting closer to being the team Paul and myself hope we can be. Of course there are a million things to improve on, but we have time on our side!

Some of lads still needed to realise how much effort is needed in a competetive football match and this was my advice to them all before the game. Some players are doing it now and its great to see. It has lifted the team. I said it doesn't matter if you're the best player on the pitch or having a tough time, the very least you need to do every week is give 100%.

And then (with plenty of practice also!) the tough times start to subside.

We really weren't far off that required effort today. It was the best game from the boys as a collective in that regard and I'm proud of them for that. Hopefully they can see the correlation now between workrate and performance and although this is the end of the season, I hope it can be the start of a new benchmark in terms of effort.

Once again, our lads passed the ball around so well. I've said it loads of times before, but I just haven't seen many other teams pass it like we do. Some of the chances coming from link ups between the lads were fantastic! The only thing missing in the first ten minutes, were goals.

Thakfully, the game ended with 10 scored in total between the two teams, so another end to end game, just what we love to see, and the comeback at the end was amazing.

Last year we ended on a bit of a low up at Holker, which took me by surprise at the time. But this was much better and the lads deserve pats on the backs from their grown ups.

We've a few tournaments coming up now and maybe a few friendlies too. I'll try to keep the lads ticking over in various ways, but I'd just like to thank everyone including the grown ups for their efforts again this season. You hear horror stories about infighting and politics from the grown ups at other clubs and I'm so grateful we have none of that at Rovers! 😁

Its been rocky at times with the lads, it's certainly been challenging, but why would we want it any other way?

The lads just need to keep practising now, they all know the skills I tell them to work on, because it's only getting more competetive as we go along, that's become clear and I maybe didn't expect it so early, and it could be so easy for lads to get left behind from here if they lose interest and dont practise.

Paul and myself will keep doing our best to help the lads keep improving and I'm already looking forward to all of the seasons ahead of us, I have loads of ideas on how we can get better and I can't wait to see how good we can become as a team.

Oh, and Noah got player of the match again today! Their coaches were impressed with him and Noah is a perfect example for me of how being keen as mustard and working hard for the team can produce results. Noah is still so raw in terms of technique, but he punches well about his weight in respect of how important he has made himself for the team.

Others can do it too.

Well done Noah, and well done everyone.

Let's see what next season brings.



💙

25/04/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action up at Furness Cavaliers, and for the first time in what seems like forever, it wasn't cold!

The pitch at Rampside was spot on, the sun was shining and after a good team talk, I thought the lads were up for it.

Before we get to the game itself though, we need to talk about training... This week left me and Paul speechless.

We were back on the training pitch at the soccer bar for the first time since the summer, it was very blustery and cool and it felt wide open compared to the enclosed and sheltered cage at Pulse.

Right from the off the arrival game was pure chaos and I knew me and Paul were in for a character building Tuesday.

The lads were at each other from the first kick, arguing and bickering over the smallest things. They were booting balls away wildly, moaning in general and barely listened to a single thing I said. This eventually culminated in two separate incidents of lads squaring up to each other, in both groups, at the same time!

That was enough.

I blew the whistle, gathered them round and told them they were to go see their grown ups, explain how badly they had behaved and to go home.

I've never had to do that, but I had used holidays to finish work early for training and that behaviour simply wasn't on.

Anyway, I mentioned none of this to the lads today. It was a clean slate and time to play football.

I was quietly confident this morning, but maybe I always am. I explained to them in our teamtalk they had two options, the Askam workrate or the Swarthmoor workrate. I recommended the latter if they wanted to play well and enjoy the game. I told them they could get something from the game and I had no doubt about it. They should have that same belief in themselves.

Thankfully, most of the boys genuinely took the message about workrate on board.

Cavs caused us problems like they are always capable of doing and as we expected. They are a well coached group of good players and are always organised and scored some good goals today. Thankfully we were able to compete with them and turn into a fantastic game overall.

I reckon their were 14 goals all in, including the 3 own goals our boys scored 😁

Incredible stuff. I came away buzzing from the performance though and I hope the lads were too.

Floyd and Oscar both had excellent games for us in goal. Floyd was alert and came off his line right when we needed him to. He still maybe gets bored after 20 minutes and was happy to come off when he did, but he did very well when he was on.

And Oscar added to his recent stellar performances between the sticks and seems to be getting better and better as the season draws to a close.

Jonah and Aiden were basically possessed today and did not stop running all game, driving up the pitch and back again, doing their best to terrorise the Cavs players when out of possession.

It's no coincidence that such workrate produced arguably their best performances for Rovers today. Both were phenomenal.

At the start of the season I had to bring Jonah off the pitch multiple times in games. He wasn't tackling, wasn't trying hard enough and just wasn't up for it in general. Since then he has worked hard at his game and so it was great to see him score a couple of cracking goals today to top off a smashing performance.

Fin and Noah worked incredibly hard at the back also, defending like champs for the Rovers and contributing to the team performance.

The Cavs coaches mentioned all of the above players for praise and felt it unfair to choose a single player of the match from them. I'm happy with that. It shows the team are coming on as a whole.

Our games with Cavs are always good ones, played in great spirit and with plenty of action and goals. I hope that continues in the future and will do my very best to ensure it does!

Top game boys, great performance again. I'm made up with it and hope you are too.

See you all Tuesday 😁 💙

18/04/2026

💙

Every weekend, kids walk off the pitch replaying their mistakes…

They don’t need reminding.
They already know.

What they need is support.
A smile.
A “well done for trying.”

Because confidence doesn’t grow from pressure —
it grows from feeling safe to learn.

Let them play.
Let them make mistakes.
Let them enjoy football.

⚽ If this hits home, share it with your team’s parents.

18/04/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action at Askam, and just for a change, it was bloody freezing! I'm sick of saying it now, surely a bit of warmth is just around the corner?!

We had all ten players available today and whilst it is great to have all the lads showing up, the flipside is that they all get fewer minutes on the pitch. Next year the match length will increase to 50 minutes, which should help a bit.

Paul was away for training this week and we had all 10 again, so instead of splitting them into groups and juggling it by myself (choose your battles!), I just did a variety of matches with different restrictions, some aimed at encouraging passing and others at using their weaker foot to score!

It was a decent session, the lads seemed to enjoy it and behaviour has been consistently better since the rocky start to the season. But as is the case at this age, training performances don't always follow through into the matches...

The lads offered graft but just struggled a bit today. It's expected and understandable but hard to watch sometimes without being able to offer them much to change it in the moment.

Askam closed us down quickly and made it tough for us.

The fixes come with time, training, practice and more time! These lads have so much growing and developing to do and even in terms of coordination and agility, you can see it a mile off that they are so young and that things will start to improve.

I'm more than happy with how the lads are doing though. We're practising the right things and the overall trajectory is positive and the improvements are steady. Perfect.

Today, we conceded a few scrappy goals very early on and although we got a couple of goals back in the game, we never quite got to grips with it.

So it's a case of heads up, keep going, keep practising and we'll keep improving together. That's a promise.

As for player of the match, there are a few lads to mention. Firstly, I want to mention Noah, for once again being steady in defense and becoming an increasingly important player for Rovers as the season progresses. I was impressed with his passing in particular today, after gaining possession he never panicked, never hoofed it wildly, he simply picked out a short pass up the pitch and hats off to Noah for that. He made it look easy. There will be times for clearing the ball long from defense, but for me, it's not at under 8s. Thats nothing about tika taka or philosophy, I just want the lads to learn composure. So well done Noah.

Albie was full of endeavour again and his recent performances and behaviour are appreciated by Paul and myself. I felt Albs pain today as we struggled as a team to get back into the game, he wants to win so badly, but his efforts did not go unnoticed.

Player of the match this week though, goes to Oscar. His first 10 minutes outfield were admirable and full of effort, but it was his 20 minutes in goal that sealed his player of the match. Oscar made a couple of exceptional saves which you don't see very often at this age, and he is looking the part between the sticks for Rovers. Oscar always looks to be enjoying himself as well, diving all over the place to stop the ball crossing his line, and it's that enthusiasm that is great to see as a coach. I say it all the time about Albs, but Oscar shows the same attitude in goals.

Keep it up Osc! Great stuff again!

Today was one of those days, we tried, we did our best, and right now, that's all we can ask for. 💙

13/04/2026

Nominations for the 2nd annual BDJFL Awards Evening will be open for another week or so with the deadline being 19th April.

Many of the award nominations are open to the public, parents, grandparents, guardians, supporters of all kinds can nominate their chosen grassroots heroes.

The form can be found here: https://forms.gle/hvYo6cqzZcMJTpbS6

Please share amongst your clubs, coaches and supporters.

Additionally there are a number of other awards that are to be nominated by club officials and secretaries should have that link in their emails. Please ask if you have not received it.

12/04/2026

💙

🇦🇷🗣️ Lionel Scaloni: "We are losing the essence of football. Not only at a professional level, but also with kids."

"My children play in Spain and are overwhelmed with information. They receive the ball, and they're already being told what to do."

"There are fewer dribblers because if they barely get the ball and you say, 'Pass it!'... Imagine if Messi, when he was eight years old, had been constantly told by his coaches to "Pass it!" We wouldn't have him today."

"Football has become such a huge thing, everyone reads, studies, and thinks that with that, they can already manage."

"If you tell a 7 or 8-year-old to make a diagonal run, cover defensively... He's seven years old! Let him play with the ball, make mistakes, and when he's 14 or 15, then we can start correcting."

"It's a message for the future. This is a sport, and the beauty of football should not be lost."

11/04/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action against Swarthmoor Reds at the Soccer Bar. It was 2 degrees and blustery with it and we needed a good warm-up to get ready for the game.

Paul and myself have been saying how the lads have trained really well recently, so even though we've had some tough fixtures and struggled at times, I was quietly hoping we would turn the corner and put on a better performance.

We've been up against some physically strong teams this month and I think the lads have been surprised at just how competitive these games can be and how much graft is needed, even at under 8s, if they want to give some of the teams around us a game.

It's a tough learning curve and I have felt their pain at times - it must seem a minute ago that they were playing sharks and minnows at Soccer Minions, laughing at 'silly Gilly', and the next they're getting shoved off the ball by a kid with size 6 boots and strides like a gazelle. Not forgetting all of the shouts from the touchline that go with it.

It can't be easy, but this is how the game goes and I'm just thankful that we have plenty of little Rovers who are super competitive with each other already and love a good tussle. That bodes well.

We're often guilty as a team of starting off slowly, but today, right from the off the lads were brilliant.

Really. The first quarter they passed it and moved into space for each other and tackled with intensity. We've seen glimpses of it before, but today it came together more fully and as their coach it was great to watch. Hopefully the grown-ups watching enjoyed it as well.

Swarthmoor though, dug in, they never gave up and scored some cracking goals themselves and ultimately turned it into what we all want to see, which is a cracking game of under 8s football!

Their coaches were full of praise for our boys, with Aiden, Jonah and Albie all getting a mention, but today it was Albie who got player of the match, and deservedly so.

For me, this was the best performance Albs has given us so far. The first quarter he was positioning himself with Noah in defence, and from there he started all of our moves. Albs drove us forward constantly and even in the later stages when he was edging upfront, desperate to score more goals, he was tracking back and tackling and disrupting the opposition.

One day I think he'll see that his goals and assists come when he drives forward from these deeper positions like today and he will help set the tempo for the team, but when he plays like he did today who am I to tell him anything?

Well done Albs, what a game.

We have a few lads who are starting to hit a bit of form again as the season draws to an end, so I hope we can gather some momentum from today and finish on a high.

All the lads contributed to a great performance and a cracking game of football and deserve a pat on the back.

Well done boys! 💙

05/04/2026

04/04/2026

This morning, the little Rovers were up against Dalton Reds at the Soccer Bar. I toyed with booking Pulse again due to the horrendous weather, but Easter closures at the Leisure Centre made the booking difficult and an early pitch inspection this morning showed the turf was mostly OK. A big puddle on the touchline aside, we were good to go!

We know Dalton are one of the better sides in our league, they get to finals regularly and have some real physical players. Some skillful ones as well. But I backed our lads to give them a game and was personally up for it today, I couldn't wait for it. I tried to gee the lads up, bring them up to my levels of enthusiasm in the warm-up, though I could sense I was maybe flogging a dead horse this morning. Still, I told them as I always do, that they can get something from these games if they put the effort in. Nothing comes without that.

Unfortunately, the drizzly weather, heavier turf and a few tired Rovers combined against a strong team and we just struggled a bit today.

After a respectable first quarter, a succession of goals over several minutes in the second quarter ensured heads quickly dropped. A player even walked off the pitch after conceding a few goals and that threw me if I'm honest! Things were close to descending into chaos.

It's easy to be a player and get player of the match awards against weaker opposition, just as it's easy to quit and to walk away against stronger sides.

There are so many lessons to learn here and I'll try to turn today into a positive one as we go forward and hopefully Paul and myself can show the lads that we won't quit, we will stay positive always and continue to believe they can get something from even the toughest games.

But sometimes the lads have to believe in themselves. Thankfully this is a long game and we have plenty of time to work together on this journey.

The Dalton coaches chose Finley as our player of the match and hopefully this is the start of Fin getting back on his game and showing us what he can do. Fin was involved today, as he always is, he's not a player who ever hides, though maybe he has struggled a touch in terms of fitness since Christmas. But even when he's not running games for us, he's disrupting games for the opposition. When he combines the two consistently, he's going to be some player.

Well done Fin. I also want to mention Oscar as well for his stint in goals. He made a double (or triple?) save from a penalty and generally played really well between the sticks. There is ability there and he clearly loves to dive about and does his best to get his body between the ball and the goal. Great effort Osc.

We'll go again boys and I can't wait for the days when we can give these teams the games I know we're going to be capable of.

In the meantime we'll keep trying to enjoy the journey and making those small steps of improvement each week. 💙

28/03/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action against Barrow Island at the Soccer Bar. It was bright but blooming cold, and the lads looked a little slow in the warm-up.

I try to get all of them on the ball before games practicing loads of skills, loads of touches, lots of moving. The aim is to get a feel for the ball, learn some skills and get warm. It's only 20 minutes a week, which isnt enough time to build the skill base of the lads, only they can truly do that outside of Rovers, by practising in gardens, yards, backstreets, the park, wherever. But at least they're being introduced to the touches and moves that they can take away and build upon if they're keen.

Hopefully better weather encourages everyone get outside more with a ball at their feet! Me and Jonah will be having more kick abouts and I'm looking forward to it.

The last few months we've experienced such bad conditions that even though we've booked the all weather pitches at Pulse, we've still had to cancel sessions. All day Tuesday we saw gale force winds and driving rain. Then when we have been able to train its been freezing, so we've been playing loads of games, small sided games and fun activities to keep all the lads playing and moving at all times.

I'll get some Sunday sessions on the go when shifts and weather permits and it'll be great to be able to work more on specific themes with the lads in conditions where they can (hopefully) listen and take it in, without them shivering and miserable.

As for the game today, I thought the lads did really well. The score line may not have suggested as much, and I say this all the time, but it's genuinely not about the score right now, and it wont be for ages. And this game was a perfect example of why that is the case. There are loads things we could work on to try to win more games in the short term, but they all take time away from the things that really build better players and will quickly become irrelevant anyway as the rules change and payers grow.

Our little Rovers passed the ball, for the most part kept it short, moved into space for each other and showed some lovely skills at times. Those are all the signs of little players getting better, so long may that continue. We'll get more of the rewards when it matters.

Player of the match is a difficult one today. Albie gave us another cracking performance and its so good to see those driving runs up the pitch and tackling anyone who happens to be anywhere near him. Albs was buzzing when Sam made a save and shouted encouragement as play continued which was nice to see. I'm looking forward to working with Albs on his footballing journey, he's my little mate and a right character and I can see him being a massive part of the team for years. He's raw at times, but more than makes up for it with his love for the game.

Jonah also gave us a good performance today. Like the rest of the lads he struggles for consistency at times and we have to remind ourselves that so many of our lot are still only 7 years old! It's ridiculously young when you think about it and crazy what we sometimes expect from them. I wouldn't be surprised if we have the youngest team in the league, and it does make such a difference at this age.

But Jonah passed it well and then shimmied and evaded challenges on the wing and his goal was a beauty. And he was also tackling more, which I'm encouraging him to do all the time. I know I can be tougher on him and have to catch myself at times, but he had a good game today and I think he's another player who will gain consistency and hopefully grow in stature at Rovers as we move through the age groups together.

We have lots of cracking little players at the club. We just need a bit of patience, loads of encouragement and plenty of practice, and I can't wait to see how we do in a few years time.

Well done lads, you all put a good shift in today and I hope you enjoyed it. 💙

UpTheRovers