On Wednesday 6th December a team of year 5 and 6 boys traveled to the West Ham Training ground in Newham for the first round of the West Ham tournament.
We were drawn in a group of 5 teams from local boroughs, including Roding, Dorothy Barley, Whitehead and Alderbridge.
Alderbrige won the first match against us 1-0. Then a 1-1 draw with Dorothy Barley was our next result. The team pulled a win out for the third game against Whitehead and our fate would be decided on the last game.
The points put Alderbridge through as top of the group but Valence had 4 points and Roding 5 points with the two teams being the only not having played each other yet. Roding only needed a draw to secure a place whereas Valence had to win to gain the 3 points.
It was a strong game with battles taking place a both ends of the pitch. With only 2 minutes left to play the score was still 0-0. The Valence boys dug deep and perfected their passes to score a final minute goal! All they had to do was defend to maintain the score and qualify as runners up. The nerve wracking seconds that dragged past saw Valence hold the defence and win 1-0 to qualify for the next round.
Fantastic matches throughout with our boys being complimented by other coaching staff and West Han youth players, as being the best squad there.
Well done team !!
The squad: Kaobi, Emmanuel, Cameron, Oladipo, Ibrahim, Rio, Kieron & Chinaza.