Biggleswade Town U18s secure second league title

They were pushed all the way by the visitors - who played an hour with ten men – but emerged as Thurlow Nunn Cambridge Division champions last Thursday.

Royston started well, keeping the Waders in their own half with both Zac Tyrrell and Oliver Fortune back to their very best keeping them at bay.

The Biggleswade youngsters finally got a grip on the game ten minutes in as they started to string passes together. On 15 minutes clever play between Matthew Moore and Lee Northfield saw the latter play in George Bailey, his shot being tipped over by Owen Sallows in the Royston goal.

The opening goal came on 28 minutes as Matthew Moore wriggled his way through the Royston back line only to be up ended by the centre back and last man. The defender received his marching orders and George Riley made amends for his missed spot kick in the reverse fixture at Royston to put the Waders in front.

The next 15 minutes saw the hosts dominate and they really should have wrapped things up as twice Rhys Thorpe was put clean through only for Sallows to make saves at his feet.

Massive credit has to be given to the ten men of Royston who gave everything in the second half, Daniel Smith in the Waders goal taking plenty of balls whilst under pressure whilst Louie Debnam saw a shot cannon back off of the post.

The youngsters looked to have put the game beyond Royston’s reach on 64 minutes with a fine individual goal by Matthew Moore. Again the Young Waders had great opportunities to put the game out of reach. A Josh Holmes run ended with Bailey having his shot charged down, whilst on the Biggleswade right both Bradley Stewart and Jack Vincent caused problems especially their link play with Northfield and Rhys Thorpe.

The introduction and fresh legs of Matt Reynolds, Joel Ives and Cameron Harris looked to see the game through. However, with 10 minutes remaining, Royston grabbed a lifeline with a goal after the Waders defence failed to clear their lines.

This set up what could have been a tense last few minutes but in truth the youngsters saw it through in relative comfort as both Charlie Luff and Ewan Smailes were introduced up front.

Man of the match for the Waders was probably shaded by Moore closely followed by TyrrellL Oliver fortune and Riley.

Big credit to the Royston youngsters who gave their all and were fantastic with their attitude and their generous praise and congratulations given to the Biggleswade youngsters at the end.

As for the young waders, it was a second league championship in two years and they now have a Champions Semi Final away at Kings Lynn to look forward to in their quest to retain the champions trophy.