Archive 2010-11 season
Panthers Tournament success
The U10 Panthers have spent the close season adding to the clubs silverware by winning two of the three summer tournaments they entered and came runners up in the third one. The Panthers kicked off their campaign by reaching the final of the Bidford tournament but were unlucky to lose a close match 1-0 to Eckington, the only goal they conceded in the whole tournament! At the beginning of June the Panthers set about defending the title they one at the Crowle tournament last year as an U9 team. The panthers played some fast attacking football in the group stages and moved into the final against Worcester Colts. Once again the Panthers played some controlled and precise football and ran out 4-2 winners. Two weeks later the team moved on to the Alcester tournament and after a closely fought group stage the Panthers moved into the semi-final against the hosts, Alcester Town. A battling performance saw them through to the final with a 2-1 victory. Welford Juniors provided stiff opposition and only the odd goal separated the teams as the Panthers held for another tournament victory. Due to their close season success the Panthers received an invitation from Birmingham City FC to play in their inaugural Academy Cup. This was held at Birmingham’s Wast Hills training ground and a number of top teams from around the Midlands were invited. The Panthers acquitted themselves extremely well and came third in their group which meant qualification for the Plate semi-final against local rivals Nunnery Wood. Once again the Panthers played some superb attacking football only to be constantly denied by the Nunnery goalkeeper who was in inspired form. The Panthers eventually losing 1-0 AET. The whole squad cannot be praised enough for their efforts and their success is just reward for all the hard work they have put in throughout the season.
Congratulations to Droitwich Spa Foxes.
Droitwich Spa Foxes, finished Stourport U12 League Winners
Congratulations to Droitwich Spa Arrows.
Droitwich Spa Arrows finished runners up in the Mercian U14 Division 2
Congratulations to:
U13 Hawks and U12 Rhinos for finishing Runners Up in their respective Ambassador Division 2 leagues.
Congratulations to Droitwich Spa Wildcats
Droitwich Spa Wildcats claimed the Mercian Under 14 Girls league title after a hard fought 1-1 draw against fellow title contenders Meadow Park in their last game of the season. The Wildcats took the lead in the first two minutes when Hannah Othen prodded the ball from close range after a scramble in the area. The two defences dominated the rest of the half with Casey Homer, Bobbie Dutton and Chelsea Brown outstanding at the back for Droitwich.
It took a great diving save by Lucy Loach to keep the scores level at the start of the second half as Meadow Park started to put the home goal under pressure. The visitors deservedly pulled level midway through the half with a close range finish from a well delivered corner. The Droitwich goal was under considerable pressure for the last ten minutes but every player in the Red & Black dug deep to see the Wildcats home.
The girls had won the league by one point, losing just one league game all season, scoring seventy-six goals and conceding just seven. A Meadow Park victory could have won them the league and their girls deserve full credit for their efforts on the day.
The visiting players, parents and coaches should also be praised for the sportsmanship shown at the end of a very tense game.
Lions Runners Up
Droitwich Spa Lions recently represented Droitwich Spa Boys and Girls FC in the Ted Price Memorial Cup, Girls Under 15s Final at Langlands Stadium, Malvern.
They played against Withymoor Colts in a fiercely competitive match, which saw the game go to extra time and penalties.
Although the Lions were runners up, the crowd showed their appreciation of the exceptional football displayed by the whole of the Lions team which had played with determination, skill and fair play throughout. The Girl of the Final was awarded by Mercian League officials and the Lions were delighted that one of their players, Lucy Solloway, received this prestigious award.
Back Row L-R: Kelvyn Stokes (Assistant Manager), Holly Smith, Jordan Maycroft, Chloe Lakin, Alex Haffner, Lucy Solloway, Jade Shekells, Mark Solloway (Manager).
Front Row L-R: Chloe Tafft Morris, Georgia Brooker, Holly Wallis (capt), Lucy Sanders, Jess bailey.
Archive 2010
Droitwich Spa U15 Saints, Dragons and U14 Lions Win Cup Finals
U14 Lions roar to victory
in the U14 Tesco County Cup
“Droitwich Spa U14 Girls played 2 games on the 11 a side astro turf pitch at Pershore High School.
The team comprised the Droitwich Spa Lions U14s plus 3 girls from the Terriers U13 team. Our first game was against Ferndale Youth – after a number of missed opportunities we went 1-0 down but battled back against a very competent and well organised Ferndale to win 2-1. Our next opponents were Kidderminster Lions
– always a strong and competitive team to play. We managed to build on our experience from the first match and used this to our advantage by improving our positional play on the 11 a side pitch, gaining confidence as the game progressed and eventually winning 4-0 to lift the Tesco County Cup. All credit must go to the players for believing in their ability and learning quickly, adjusting their play from 9 aside football to 11 aside on an unfamiliar playing surface. A big Thank You should go to all the parents for their support and a special thanks to John Glover and the Terriers team in helping the U14s and Droitwich Spa Boys and Girls FC win the Tesco County trophy”.
The Saints
(Saints won on Penalites following a 1-1 score AET)
Droitwch Spa U15 Saints completed a league and cup double on Sunday 2nd May with a win over Welland Juniors in a highly entertaining final at Langlands Stadium Malvern.
The game started with Welland dominating the early part of the game and they took the lead within the first five minutes. Saints, who had not lost a League or Cup game all season started to get into the game and created a few good chances before Liam
Neath equalised for Saints before half time. The second half and extra time saw both teams create good chances and played some excellent football, but neither could find the net as Josh Farmer in goal for Saints and the Welland Goalkeeper made important saves.
The game went to penalties and Saints scored all five of their penalies to Wellands four to lift the trophy.
An excellent achievement, well done Saints.
The Dragons Win Cup
Droitwich Spa Dragons FC U15s 
Droitwich Spa Dragons reached the final of two historic cups. They came runners up in the Stourport & District Youth League cup final against Kidderminster Lions in a hard fought match. A week later it was against Kingswinford East, top of the Stourbridge Youth League Division One. To reach the final Droitwich had an impressive run with victories over Oldswinford Youth 6-1, Kidderminster Lions Youth 5-2 and Halas Hawks 4-0. In an entertaining final both teams played some outstanding football. Droitwich came close hitting the cross bar in the first half and had several near misses. Some excellent saves on both sides kept the game at 0-0 at full time. In the second period of extra time Droitwich broke with a swift counter attack and Robbie Cox duly delivered with an excellent finish to send Droitwich fans into raptures. Final score Droitwich Dragons 1 – Kingswinford East 0. Rob Crowe was awarded the man of the match award for a quality performance in defence. This is the first time a Droitwich Spa team has won this tournament and the boys deserve great credit for all their hard work and determination.
A great effort from two of our Mini Soccer teams, both respectable runners up in their cup competitions.
Cup Final Result
Droitwich Sharks 1-2 Ferndale Youth Girls
The Sharks’ Journey to the Cup Final
The Sharks are a girls under-10s team and it is our first season together.
Over the spring of 2009 flyers were sent out to local schools to see if anyone was interested in forming a new football team. In the summer the girls who were interested came and trained on the grass at Droitwich Leisure Centre whilst their parents sat on deck chairs enjoying the occasional ‘sunny’ Saturday morning.
When the season kicked off the cup final seemed a distant dream. Our first game in the league was at home against Pershore Town, who we later played in the quarter-final, which we lost 6-1. We were heavily beaten in our second game, 9-0 against Warndon Village Wildcats, before recording our first win of the season in impressive fashion against Ferndale Youth Flyers, which we won 8-0. The girls however seemed at their happiness when the team lost. They always walked away with their heads held high, giggling.
On 12 December we travelled to Pershore Town for our quarter-final tie. Having lost the last time we had met everyone really wanted to progress to the semi-final. All the girls were available to play and we were up for the challenge. After half-time the Sharks were 1-0 down but the girls responded after the break to secure an impressive 6-2 win.
Following the success in our quarter-final game our semi-final was against Newtown Sports Girls, who at our previous meetings we had played really well against. Our last result against them at home was a 9-0 win to the Sharks.
We were due to play Newtown in the semi-final on 23 January, we were all fired up but just as we arrived at the ground the game got cancelled due to the pitch being waterlogged. We were all extremely disappointed. Our next planned game was 6 February. It was a cold morning but sunny although still very muddy. The girls were very excited about the match which resulted in a 14-0 win. Millie put in a real captain’s performance scoring five goals, Agata also netted five, Caroline got her first Sharks goal and new arrival Anna fired home a hat-trick.
What was considered a very unlikely event for a new team at the beginning of the season has been a welcome surprise for the Sharks and has proved that we are able to play together as a team and have plenty of fun along the way whatever the score. Our preparations for the cup final are now underway.
Cup Final Result
Droitwich Spa Pumas 0-1 Westbury Celtic
U9 Pumas The Road to Malvern…
This is our first season playing league football and we’ve all enjoyed it 
thus far…
We’ve been fortunate enough to make it into the Mercian Festival Junior League Cup Final, which is being held on Sunday 28th March at Malvern Town F.C.
And this is the story of how we got there…
1st ROUND
November 21st V L & B Badgers (div 1) Away. My Lord, did it rain?! 1st ROUND
November 21st V L & B Badgers (div 1) Away
My Lord, did it rain?!
We were told to expect a relatively easy game but it proved to be anything but! In true Cup tradition, the home team raised their game and, despite having the vast majority of play, we just scraped the victory! L&B defended really well and blocked shot after shot, their GK was truly heroic and we were relieved to get the only goal of the game.
Result: L&B Badgers 0-1 Droitwich Spa Pumas Scorer: Luke Firkin
MoM: James Webster
2nd ROUND
December 12th V Ombersley (div 1) Home
Although the scoreline suggests that this was an easy game, during the first half, Ombersley made it difficult for us to break them down. At the interval, the Pumas trailed by 2 goals to 1. The players had the ‘Hairdryer Treatment’ (well… Tom and I reminded them to play to our strengths and not let the opposition dictate terms!) And as if by magic…
We scored one goal every three minutes or so to take us into the semi-finals.
Result: Droitwich Spa Pumas 6-2 Ombersley Scorers: Luke Firkin(1), Joe Goss(2), James Webster(2), Cory Webley(1)
MoM: Joe Goss
SEMI-FINAL
January 23rd V Droitwich Spa Panthers (div 1) Away
The draw that nobody wanted until the Cup final…
The only good thing about the draw was that we weren’t expected to get the goals out!
To be honest, we all thought this game would be called off due to a waterlogged pitch but Rob Heywood and Frank Holliday worked really hard to get the playing surface fit for the match.
Previous encounters between these teams have resulted in draws and we knew that this would be a much sterner test than we’d had in the competition to date and this proved to be the case.
During the pre-match warm up, our GK (Simon Brownlee) injured his thumb and was unable to play in goal: this was a blow because he’s been outstanding all season. Natalya Pulver put on the gloves and prepared herself for a busy game. Within the opening couple of minutes, she made a fantastic save at the feet of a Panthers player. This set the tone for the first half.
Stanley Asomugha scored with an unstoppable strike five minute before the break to give the Panthers a deserved lead. Out came the hairdryer again and Tom and I asked our players to believe in themselves and be patient.
It’s a cliché, I know, but this really was a game of two halves. After ten minutes of pressure, the Pumas levelled with a well-crafted goal from Joseph Ilsley, who showed great strength and determination to slot the ball home. This set up an exciting (well actually, nerve-wracking!) final few minutes. Both teams went all out for the victory and without the Pumas brave defending and Natalya’s fantastic keeping, the result may have been a different one.
With only a couple of minutes left to play, Cory Webley steered the ball through a crowd of players to earn us a memorable victory and a place in the final.
Both teams and their supporters were a credit to our club: there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!!
Result: Droitwich Spa Panthers 1 V 2 Droitwich Spa Pumas Scorers: Joseph Ilsley, Cory Webley
MoM: Natalya Pulver
CUP FINAL
March 28th at Malvern Town F.C. The excitement’s building…
And Finally…
It can be a difficult job, managing a football team but we have great support every week from the parents and supporters that watch our games. They never question anything we do and always express their gratitude. Tom and I don’t have to worry about getting the equipment out or putting it away, it’s always done for us – small things some might think? Don’t fool yourselves, these things are a great help to us!!