14/06/2026
Tibshelf Tournament Day!
Today our Phoenix went to Tibshelf Tournament for a day of football. Looking at the sides participating, we knew it would be a tough day but football is football, so we dove in!
First up, a very technical FDNA team, out of whom we ground out a draw. The unstoppable force met an immovable object in terms of their balance and trickery Vs our physicality and route 1 football.
Next, a Westfield side, aggressive and powerful, hitting us with a 2-0 defeat.
An Eastwood team followed, an U9s team playing up a year, who were exceptional and handed us a 4-1 defeat. No complaints, sometimes, you just get beaten by a better team! 🤷🏻♂️
Sherwood Colliery Warriors held us to a 0-0 draw, with some great football from both teams making it tough to get a winner. A highlight was a superb save from , standing in as third keeper after suffered a finger injury in the previous game. AA17 absolutely flew to the top corner to deny a wonder goal!
Our final group game was against a strong Collingham Lions side who, despite conceding and early penalty, gave us a hell of a game and ultimately came out 2-1 winners, though if it wasn't for some heroic goalkeeping and tough defending may have found themselves a few more goals to the good.
Through to the Conference Semi-Final, we faced a familiar foe in Tupton Ivanhoe Amber, a regular game in our league. We love playing Tupton as it's always a tight game, historically swinging either way and this time was no exception. Tipton got off to a spectacular start, going two goals up though we fought back and grabbed a goal later on. Throwing caution to the wind, we piled the pressure on gambling for an equaliser but not this time, as Tipton progressed to the final and we dropped to the third place play-off.
In a full-circle, we met FDNA again and this time the game was completely different... FDNA had come alive and were heaping pressure on our defence for almost the full 12 minutes, but through solid defending, goal line clearances, astute goalkeeping and pure team work we kept them at bay and at the final whistle, the score was 0-0 and the game went to penalties.
Six brave kids stepped up to the spot, three scored, and three hit the posts to give us a 2-1 penalties win and secure that third place bronze medal for the day!
The team did amazingly well, working super hard for each other, playing against some tough opposition and giving maximum effort! Plenty of proud parents today and two proud coaches, well done all and a massive thank you to all the teams involved and to Tibshelf for putting on a brilliant tournament!