The coaches certainly enjoyed the fact that there were only two goals to put up rather than four and that the store cupboard hadn’t had more locks added!!

On a lovely morning for football it was great to see the squad continue to grow with quality players……following on from Cameron we know have Toby, Daniel and Carl and they all played their part.

The match was played in the right spirit and was a close run game throughout. It was good to see the players generally stick to their positions within the team and work well as a team.Broad Oak were the first on the scoresheet and probable shaded the opening exchanges. We seemed to struggle to get our passing going and a lot of possession came to little as we kept losing control of the ball. Plenty to work on in training here!!

In a game of few attempts on goal, it was Joshua that pulled us level with a fierce shot into the top corner as he continued his impressive form of late. We must get him to sign a long term contract before Man Utd come in for him!!

The team was chopped and changed to make sure that everyone got a good share of match time and could get to grips with the requirements of the 11 a side game.

Broad Oak took the lead in the third quarter and were enjoying more of the ball through midfield . However, we came back into the game and in the final quarter grabbed a well deserved equaliser as Tom made a strong run down the right and got the ball accross for Harry to get in behind the defence to score.

As I said earlier, a good learning experience but we do need to work hard on ’ pass and move’ to create more dynamic play.

The highlights for me from the morning included seeing all bar one of the growing squad taking part and enjoying their football: the sportsmanship and good behaviour and for a well earned result . I also enjoyed Callum’s step overs down the right wing…….needs a bit of work but great to see!! Well done to new players Daniel and Carl.

Hailsham up next……it would be great to give them a better game after they thrashed us earlier in the season

Gary

Thankfully, a couple of the goals were in the Pavilion and we borrowed a further goal from St Philips (thanks Shaun) so in the end we only had to employ the old ‘ jumpers as goalposts’ at one end!

Anyway, we finally got underway a little late and I could tell that the players wre ‘up for it’ from the way that they were bouncing around during the warm up. Unless they had all had a pre match meal of Mars bars and Smarties that had sent them ‘hyper’!!

Flames continued their excellent form with an opening 4-2 win. The legend in the making Jack K scored a hat trick and Charley notched the fourth. The best was yet to come when they romped to a 10-2 victory in the second game. It was a shame for poor old Wadhurst and no body likes to see a team get thrashed, but we have had to endure a couple of similar results against us this season. So let’s celebrate a fine win and Barry tells me that some excellent passing football was played and to score 10 goals in any match is some feat. Jack K scored another 4 and brother Harry scored a well deserved hat trick making it an expensive day for Dad Barry …..I think it is £1 a goal Barry so that’s you ten quid down, better renegotiate the terms!! Goal of the game was a stunning volley by young Jack. Callum added two more and Cameron scored his first for the team. another fantastic all round performance by the magnificent seven. Who needs substitutes anyway.

Player of the match was Harry for his excellent performance which included accurate passing, work rate and 3 goals. 

The victorious squad :

Jack P, Callum, Kyle,Jack K, Harry, Cameron and Charley

Arrows also enjoyed a successful morning. The first match was a comfortable 3-0 win. I should mention the whole team performed well and all had a part to play in the success. Scott keeping a clean sheet, Daniel and Matthew providing some strong defending was the base for the team to build upon. The midfield continued to work tirelessly, Lilly continued her improvement over recent weeks with another solid display of tackling and improved passing; Tom covered the whole pitch helping out the defence and playing some great passes with Joshua, Tom grabbed two goals and Joshua the third.  The final goal set up by Connor as he robbed a defender and got the ball to Joshua to finish.

The second match was more of the same as we controlled the game and created a lot of chances. The opening goal was the best headed goal that I have seen at this level. A tremendous corner from Joshua right into the danger area was met by Tom with a bullet header that flew in. Wadhurst pulled a goal back to make it 1-1 before Lilly drove home a fine shot to give us back the lead. Her first goal for Grasshoppers and what a great way to start!! The final goal was the best of the three as Joshua took it upon himself to dibble through just about the whole team and then round the goal keeper for a memorable goal. What entertainment! The player of the match award could have gone to Tom, Joshua or Lilly, but the players voted for Lilly in celebration of her first goal for the team.

The team:

Tom Scott Connor Matthew Lilly Joshua Daniel   

All the players have made great progress over the last 3 months and have thoroughly deserved the run of good results. Their committment and love of football make it all worthwhile……even when the council look us out of our own store cupboard!!

Missing three regular players due to party committments, Happy Birthday Calum!!, we gave a debut to Cameron and Ben from the U9s was in goal.

Both Flames and Arrows continued their improved form and all four matches were quite close.

Flames narrowly lost the first match 4-3 having been 4-1 down and looked close to equalising before time ran out. The prolific King brothers banged in the goal again with Jack getting 2 and Harry the other. The second game was a 3-0 loss, but again the team worked hard with Ben excelling in goal with a string of great saves. Lots of good football and plenty to give encouragement. Kyle Emberton Westlake was named Player of the Match.

Arrows had similar results. After a slow start losing the first match 2-0, they recovered to put in a far better performance in the second match. it was an entertaing match with East Hoathly taking a 2 goal lead before Arrows hit back with a fine strike from the returning Jordi Southgate and then another goal from the captain Tom Chown. Unfortunately East Hoathly scored in the dying seconds to snatch the win when a  draw would have been the fairest result. Lilly Smith tackled like a demon to continue her excellent progress and was voted Player of the Match.

We finished the morning with an 11 a side game that finished 0-0.

Many thanks to EastHoathly for a great morning of football.

Wadhurst are the next visitors and our squad will be strengthened by the returning players.

Despite have some players missing and having no subs, we started off from where we left off against East Hoathly.

Flames recorded two impressive wins of 5-1 and 2-0. The King brothers led the scoring list with Jack k recording 4 goals in the first match and 1 in the second. Brother Harry added the 5th in the first match and callum the other goal in the 2-0 win. A superb team performance with the boys taking a share of goal keeper duties and with no subs having to work very hard. Scoring 7 and letting in just the 1 goal was a great achievement. Jack P was the man of the match with another commanding performance in defence. One slidding tackle he made was the best i have seen for sometime. Well done Barry and the squad.

Arrows also excelled with  3-2 and 2-0 wins. Again with just the 7 players they worked well to achieve the wins. We started well with an early penalty converted by tom setting us on the way. Joshua scored an amazing goal dribbling from half way through the defence and passed the goal keeping.Fantstic stuff. Even when they got back to 2-2, we kept going and Tom smashed in the winner. In game two we were in control of the match and goals from Joshua and Tom gave us the win. Scott made some great saves for us, Dan and Matthew were strong in defence and the midfield of Lilly,Tom and Joshua worked tirelessly with some great skill and passing movements down the right. Connor battled hard as the striker. Joshua was named man of the match.

The victorious squads:

Flames:Callum,Charley,Harry, Kyle,Jonathan and the two Jacks

Arrows: Scott Matthew Daniel Lilly Connor Tom and Joshua.  

On a cold wet day, the team played very well and above all expectations. They held their positions well and combined as a team to produce an impressive display. I would say that each and every player had a great game and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When we saw that we were playing on a full size pitch with full size goals it was a bit of a shock!

The team battled well on a heavy pitch and it was an even game throughout. We played four quarters to allow time for a breather,drink and to change players. It was still nil nil at half time with everything to play for.

We started to create more chances and hit the post/bar on several occassions before Joshua put us one nil up.

The defence held firm, ably marshalled by the outstanding Jack P who one just about every tackle he made and produced another man of the match performance. Scott in goal made some important saves and the defence of Max, Lilly,Connor,Matthew,Jack and Scott were all superb. The midfield worked very hard with Tom driving us forward from centre midfield, with Jack K, Jonathan, Callum and Joshua all turning in fine performances. Jordi and Harry led the attack.

East Hoathly equalised late on, but we kept our shape and  momentum. As the clock ticked down, there were chances for both teams. However, a superb strike from Jack K gave us the edge and a thoroughly deserved win.

Well done to all the squad.

Man of the match: Jack P

Scorers: Joshua,Jack K.

Arrows suffered two 2-0 losses but fought hard to the end. We are obviously suffering from a small squad having just the required 7 a side with no subs to introduce like our opponents had. Jordi is away on an eight week Cricket coaching course, Oliver is not available at present and Joshua was on holiday. The positives here are the fact Scott is keen to play in goal ( hurray a volunteer to play in goal!!) and we continue to see some tremendous performances from Daniel and Lilly is making great strides. Daniel was in commanding form once again and he is looking like an excellent centre half in the making. Daniel was man of the match again, well deserved.Lilly’s tackling just gets better and better drawing praise from her team and the opposition coaches. She ran Daniel close for player of the matchWe just need to remain positive, keep working on our technique and results will improve. All credit to the team once again.

Flames also suffered two losses. 6-1 and 6-2. They were also down to the required seven. Again great effort, committment and team spirit from the players and they did have some goals to celebrate. Jack P was the well deserved man of the match as he continues to turn in excellent performanced week in week out. Jack K weighed in with a couple of goals and he is also getting better with every game notwithstanding the age gap.

Despite the recent losses, there are a lot of positives to build on and it is great to see the progres being made by the players and the fantastic committment that they show.

Next up are Pembury at home

Gary and Barry

The matches were tough and ,unfortunately, our goalkeepers were the busiest players on the day!

Arrows pulled off the best result of the day with a splendid 2-2  result having ben behind in the game. Our goal scoring heros were Harry and brother Jack. Jack tells me that it was the best goal he has ever scored and it seemed to get better everytime he talked me through it!! It certainly sounded like a cracking goal and it was  a shame that I didn’t see it. Harry also scored in the second game for the arrows but they were well beaten in that match. Lots of effort and enthusiasm as always and plenty of positives with the goals we scored and the goalkeeping exploits of Charley. Man of the match went to Charley, his first award since joining Grasshoppers. Well done Charley and all the team.

Flames also had a tough couple of matches and ended up losing both. That said they battled hard and improved as the games developed. We scored two, an own goal and another spcial finish from Tom after a run from the half way line. Ben the Under 9s goalkeeper was superb and we are very grateful for his assistance. Callum worked very hard as lone striker and Joshua gave his usual non stop performance that earned him man of the match.  You couldn’t fault the endeavour and enthusiam from all the players and Lily’s tackling gets better every week.

Looking forward to our next match away to Rusthall 

A warm welcome to new players Charley, Scott and Kyle plus the returning Elliott and Oliver.

Saturday 15th September saw the opening fixture at Wadhurst. Overall, both teams made a great start with plenty of goals flying in and some early wins to give us a great opening to the season. Callum and Tom were the top scorers with Tom netting 6 goals. The team performances were very good as Barry and I try to keep the standard of both teams equal and ensure that all the players get a fair share of the action. Well done to Jonathan on scoring his first goal for the Grasshoppers with the added reward of the man of the match award. Daniel was our other man of the match with a commanding defensive performance topped off with a goal too. Well done to all the players. Great to see the boys and girl progressing well with Jack P continuing to impress and Jack K improving with every game.

Saturday 29th September saw our first home game as hosts to Forest Row. They were a stronger side overall and we did suffer from some absent players. Flames worked tirelessly to get a well deserved draw with Tom scoring towards the end.  In the end both teams ran out of steam in the second matches and we suffered 4-0 and 8-0 defeats. The highlights for us were the debut by Scott and our first girl of the match with Lilly turning in a hard working performance to take the award for the flames. Callum battled on through a serious of cuts and bruises to take the Arrows man of the match award.

Next up is Hailsham away and we will have to take them on without Daniel,Oliver,Kyle,Jordi and possibly Joshua so we will have a tough job on our hands.

On a cold and wet Sunday morning, the mighty Grasshopper squad took part in the annual Fiesta at Crowborough Athletic.

The squad remained the same as last week when we were at Tonbridge:

Tom C, Daniel O, Jack P, Max R, Joshua F, Lily S, Callum FB, Harry K, Jack K.

We started in Group A on a league basis with 5 other local teams. It was good to see some familiar faces and some old friends and former Grasshoppers. The first match was against Crowborough and we started brightly with a long range shot from Tom taking a deflection and looping over the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead. However, Crowborough fought back well to win the game 2-1. The team bounced straight back to defeat Ridgeway 1-0, then Rusthall 2-0. Next up were East Hoathly who we dispatched 2-0. Three wins in a row with no goals conceeded! The team were buzzing with some tremendous team spirit as the boys had to share goalkeeping duties ( which they all hate!) and the team managers, Gary and Barry, tried hard to give all the players a fair share of the action.

That run of three wins gave us an outside chance to reach the semi finals as the ‘best runner up’ within the 3 groups. We battled out a 0-0 with Jarvis Brook. We finished second in the group on 10 points and a plus 4 goal difference. Would it be enough?

During the group stages we saw many tremendous individual performances from the team and I thought that our two defenders Jack P and Daniel O were awesome. Tom  hit 3 goals, with Jack K, Harry K and Callum FB all getting one each. All the players showed great character and sportsmanship especially when asked to help out in goal or not getting as much time on the pitch as they deserved.

We had the agonising wait for the remaining matches to finish to see if we had made the semis. The results went our way and we did get into the semis to play Crowborough (Albion).

The semi was a close game with continued excellent all round play from Grasshoppers as they continued to work hard in wet conditions to pass the ball around and to create chances. Max and Harry shared the goalkeeping duties and kept us in the game. The match finished 0-0 and we went into extra time. Callum came on up front and found the net to take us into the final. Another stunning team performance to keep the watching parents happy despite the rain.

The final was against Crowborough (Youth). They proved to be strong opposition and were worthy winners. All the squad made an appearance in the final and did themselves and the club proud. I think the parents were pretty impressed too!!. The squad collected some impressive trophies to add to their collection and hopefully some happy memories of a very enjoyable and succesful day.

All the squad played very well….. Daniel commanding in defence, Tom with 3 goals, Joshua’s tireless running, but I think Jack P just edged my vote as player of the tourament for the Grasshoppers. Congratulations and well done to all the squad.

Gary and Barry

Team Managers

We have had new additions in the form of Jonathan, Matthew and Lily to add to the loyal band of long standing players.

Barry and I have committed to continue as coaches next season and we would like to see all the current squad return in September when we will be at our new base at West Park. We will need to attract some new players to ensure we have full squads for two teams.

I am grateful to the parents and guardians for supporting the team and continuing to get the players to training during the season.

We have some competitions, the Awards Day and the Sussex sixes still to look forward too.

Gary Chown