Cannock Under 9s played the season's first festival at Leek. The team included 3 players who only began training 4 weeks ago and a debutant goalkeeper. All the players coped extremely well with the unusual format of 26 minute games and played superbly.

In the first game, the team came from behind to defeat North Staffs 4-1. The second game was against an experienced Leek side. Although going down 2-0 to a goal scored in each half, Cannock competed throughout and were only thwarted by some excellent saves.

All the players deserve credit for showing great determination and playing exciting, skilful hockey. In particular, the experienced pair of Jordan Homer and Dominic Hoare were a formidable partnership and keeper Danny Swinnerton-Ions gave the team confidence with a series of fine saves. Jack Ryan had an excellent debut both in attack and defence. The younger members of the side- Oliver Beaumont, Braden Massey, Toby Jones and Rachel Drayton-Chana, all played well, holding their own against much bigger and more experienced players.

The Under 9s now look forward to the next festival at Cannock on November 4th, where we hope to field 2 or possibly even 3 sides.