Over the Bank Holiday weekend the Under 14s took part in Bracknell’s 10th Anniversary International Tournament.

On day 1 of the tournament Robin Monaghan ran the bench and the boys were very competitive drawing their first two games 1-1 and 2-2 against Bracknell and Lee Valley. With a 1-0 win v Solent in the final game of the day the boys were unbeaten and the team spirit was just fantastic.

Day 2 and the Dragons were first up on the ice at 7.15am - lucky us!! Not as bad as it sounds as the hotel was only 100yards away.

The game against Swindon was fast and the Dragons were the better team most of the time. In the last minute of the game the referee called a penalty leaving the Dragons shorthanded. A further penalty against them left them 5 on 3 for the remaining 49 seconds and Swindon scored the winning goal with only 11 seconds on the clock.

Zbynek, Cardiff’s new head coach, who flew into Britain the night before joined the team immediately at the tournament and got an introduction to British refereeing.

The day progressed with another close game, a 4-3 win over a second Bracknell side. This result put Cardiff 3rd in the Ebony league. Two more games against 1st and 4th placed teams would not add any more points to our league position. A 4th position overall and a place in the plate competition with a much more civilized start time on the Bank Holiday Monday.

After 4 games and a full day with the boys Zbynek was able to assess the boy’s abilities and this helped the team beat the tournament hosts 3-0 which put Cardiff into the Plate final.

Now inspired the team faced an unsuspecting Solent side. Cardiffs passing, movement and weight of shot during the game were strong and consistent and Solent had little reply leaving Cardiff run out eventual winners 6-2 and PLATE WINNERS.

The Under 14’s may not be at the top of the mountain yet but they are at least a few yards into the foothills. Let’s keep climbing!

Top Cardiff Scorer: #22 Dafydd Davies (6 goals)

Team for the weekend:

N/M - Ben Parkinson
D - Daniel Mann, Alex Mancuso, Giovanni Raffaelli, Josh Galea
F - Josh Haslam, Dafydd Davies, Lewis Jones, Callum Palmer, Nathan Dunn
Jamie Young, Johan Hennius