December 19/20th

Cannock boys u16's and 18's both progressed to the National Final weekend in Southampton on 23 rd /24 th January after winning the Midlands Finals at Aldersley Stadium this weekend.

The u16's looked imposing in their performances on Saturday winning all of their games against Lichfield, Belper, Ludlow and Beeston scoring 27 goals and conceding 2. They beat Beeston 5-1 in the deciding game and are seeded now as regional winners for the next stage of the tournament which will see them play against the other regions runners up. They are 4 games away from appearing in the Indoor Showcase event in Nottingham Trent FM arena at the end of January.

Coach Will Fleet said he can see the team getting stronger with further training and can't wait for the next round. Team Manager Ian Morris said he hoped that the boys continue to work as a unit and he believed it would take a good team to stop them progressing further.

The squad contained only 7 players and they can look to strengthen if necessary for the next round but the squad was led by Ed Fleet with Tom Morris, Jack Middleton, Chris Darnley, Arjan Drayton Chana , Jordan Bosi and keeper Jack Hitchens.

The u18's led by Nick Bandurak had a great day as well and showed great resilience during a long day on Sunday at Aldersley. With a comfortable win over Wolverhampton in their first game they would their group with a tight 2-1 victory over Barford Tigers. After a long wait to see who they would play they came up against Stourport in the semi final and with 5 mins to go they trailed 2 nil and the game looked over. Satbinder Chana the coach took off their keeper and immediately Cannock pulled a goal back. With time running down Cannock conceded a third goal to trail 3-1 with 2 mins to go. Back came Cannock with a minute to go to make it 3-2 and with 12 secs to go Cannock got awarded a penalty corner which hit a defender on the line! A stroke was awarded which Banders put away to take it to flicks! After various saves, misses and goals it came down to SUDDEN DEATH!!

Tom Pinnergar was the hero with another magnificent save in the Cannock goal and up stepped the captain to score from spot and to send the local crowd wild with excitement.

Cannock u18's then played superbly in the final to beat Beeston 4-2 and to also be crowned Midlands Champions 2009.

The squad was led by Nick Bandurak included Lewis Jecketts, Aaron Wilkes, Madison Knapp. Andy Balmer, Tom Pinnegar, Nick Middleton, Zak Sherwani. Sukkee Sidhu.

All aboard the coach for Southampton!!