We have secured our first promotion – to Tier 4. We would now naturally have a rest over the Christmas/ NY break and plan to start matches again on the weekend of 9th & 10th January. Our current advice is that at least youth football will be allowed to start again then. This has certainly been an unusual year for all of us. On the narrow footballing front it has been difficult keeping the “Footballing Show on the Road” through stop/starts, coaches and players off due to Covid and council staff furloughed – a perfect storm. On the whole we have pulled through by working together and covering for absences where possible and generous donations, so well done everybody for being so helpful and mostly cheerful in difficult times. A certain bleak humour helps – as one of our managers said “Even though we don’t produce much in the UK we were the first with the new Covid mutant”
Results W/E 20th December:
We end the footballing year undefeated with all our teams winning over the weekend. The mathematically inclined may notice that most matches were postponed due to Covid but never the less all those Dragons that entered the field came away victorious:
The U12 Boys beat Celtic 6-2 away. This was a fantastic performance from the Dragons who, despite going down 0-1 early on, kept their composure and as the game progressed got better and better. Every player had a big contribution to play in the win. It is a tribute to the Coaches, Managers and Players that they have progressed so much since the end of last season as Under 11s – mostly with the same players. They have hugely grown in stature and maturity. Well done.
The U13 Girls beat Wealdstone 2-1 at home in a tense, exciting match. The first half was an even affair but the Dragons went into the break 1-0 up with a goal on the stroke of half-time. Unfortunately the Wealdstone parents have yet to reach that state of maturity where they can cope with being behind in a match they assumed they would win. They complained about everything from the pitch to the referee. A commotion at half time affected the Dragons at the restart as Wealdstone equalised from a Dragons mistake, playing out from a goal kick. The match continued to be evenly contested until the Dragons found a winner in the final 10 minutes. This was a tremendous performance from the Dragons who kept their composure right to the end and in doing so scored the vital winner. Well done to the Coach, Manager and Parents.
The U10s trained and then played a match against the U11 Boys. This was their only second only match but one could see definite signs of improvement in the U10s as they start to progress to being entered into the League.
All the remaining matches could not be played due to Covid. The Coaches, Managers or Players from the oppositions or Dragons either had symptoms or had to isolate because they had been in contact with somebody with Covid. Frustrating but the whole world is in much the same Covid boat.
Happy Christmas and New Year to everybody – it may be quieter for most than usual but good news is just around the corner.