Warrington put in a strong opening performance at the M&D tournament beating Tyldesley in the first game by 6-4 - a significant win!
We went on to face Chester next with a very strong performance and dominating possession and more attempts on goal but luck was not on our side and we lost out 3-0! Compared to our recent match against Chester which ended 23-3 to them and out can see a clear and pronounced improvement in performance.
Chester went on to play Tyldesley in our group of three and, naturally we were rooting for a Chester win, but surprisingly Tyldesley pulled forward and secured a win! So all three teams ended the group 1 stages with a win!
Unfortunately this put us into a goal difference situation which never truly reflects the team performance. There was some initial confusion with table officials reporting that we had come second in the group of three and therefore faced Bridgefield, however we were sceptical about this result and it proved in goal difference that we were third.
This pitted us against Liverpool for the 5/6 position.
In this final match I think we were the better team for sure but we ended 3-3. This led to some contemplation on the result and whether it would be decided on penalties but it was confirmed that Warrington took the 5th place position by default as Liverpool had been unable to present a full team and had borrowed players in order to compete - natural at this age group with focus being in participation - so no criticism of Liverpool.
So Warrington took 5th place but did so with heads held high. In the last few weeks we have made great strides- we have 5 of our players attending regional academy which is providing a higher level of coaching and we have a new starter in Jack Moss, a Warriors Swimmer who is already made a significant contribution to the team.
Overall I’m very satisfied with today’s performance and excited about the future if the current 12&u team as it transitions into 14&u next year.
Coaching team
Emily Irelan
David Smithson
Craig Stowell