Girls do battle at St Albans City Youth tournament

THE annual St Albans City Youth FC Six-a-side tournament took place at Sandringham School last weekend with the Under 11s, Under 12s and Under 13s Girls kicking off the action in the morning. In the Under 11s Group, the City Youth A squad lost 2-0

THE annual St Albans City Youth FC Six-a-side tournament took place at Sandringham School last weekend with the Under 11s, Under 12s and Under 13s Girls kicking off the action in the morning.

In the Under 11s Group, the City Youth A squad lost 2-0 to Enfield Town and the B side went down 2-0 to Flamstead Youth. The B team, inspired by manager Katie Ladd, then beat the A team 2-1 with Georgia Murphy scoring two good goals. In their next match the B team drew 0-0 with St Albans Rangers before losing 3-1 to Enfield Town, despite taking the lead with a spectacular effort from Izzy Jenkins. In their final game the B team lost 3-1 to Hoddesdon Owls, with Georgina Dean-Lawrence scoring a good consolation goal.

The defeat to their City Youth rivals inspired the A squad to hit back with a 1-0 win against Hoddesdon, with Louise Herren netting and they then beat St Albans Rangers 2-0 with strikes from Maddie O'Dell and Tati Bee. The A side then drew 0-0 with group winners Flamstead Youth.

The Under 12s Girls Group was won by Harvesters with four wins and one draw for 13 points. Crawley Green Youth finished in second place.

In the Under 13s Group, a goal from Ella Champken handed the City Youth squad a 1-0 win against the Barbarians. They then went on to lose their next four matches. The Brentford Girls B squad showed impressive form to become champions with four wins and one draw, giving them top spot ahead of the older Brentford A squad in second.

The Under 15s Girls sent two teams to the Watford Girls six-a-side tournament and the Yellow squad reached the final, only to lose out on penalties. In their first match they drew 0-0 with Watford and then beat Hayes Gate 2-0. Abigail Cameron and Hayley Ladd netted.

Abigail Cameron scored to secure a 1-1 draw with Northwood and continued her goal spree when she netted in the 2-0 win against Denham United. Charlie Lebetkin scored the other goal before the Yellows drew 0-0 with Parkfield to secure a place in the semi finals.

Hayley 'Dynamo' Ladd scored a fine goal in the semi final to give the squad a superb 1-0 victory over Tottenham and Hayley also netted the equalising goal against Denham United in the final to take the match to penalties. Hayley converted her spot kick but the Yellow team lost out 3-1.

The City Youth Blue team beat Northwood 3-0 with goals from Mollie Slade (two) and Paige Kenny. They then drew 0-0 with Hampstead before losing 1-0 to Tottenham. The Blue team hit back with a 2-1 win against Parkfield and a 2-1 win against Watford. Paige Kenny and Megan Kiff scored a goal apiece in each game. They lost out on a semi final place to Tottenham on goal difference.