Fylde coast youth football review: Milestone match for St Annes Yellows, all the YMCA action

This was soon followed by a well-collected cross being promptly sidefooted into the goal by Bamber.

Jonathan Dennison got his first from a superbly-taken free kick, stirring the Yellows who came back pressing.

That resulted in a foul inside the box and a penalty for the Yellows, dispatched by Oliver Cox.

It wasn’t long before Cox scored his second with a great run and chip over the keeper.

There was some great football played in the second half before Dennison scored his second for Warton with almost the last kick of the game to wrap up a 4-2 victory.

The other St Annes team, the Diamonds, hosted Poulton Town in a game that started brightly and was fairly even for the first 15 minutes or so.

That was until Jack Ong broke the deadlock for Poulton and then scored another with great running from the right wing.

Diamonds battled away and had chances but a foul in the area gave Poulton a penalty, scored by Alec Davies-Ward.

Poulton’s subs made a difference in the second half as Regan Malone scored and John Bull finished off with a hat-trick.

Jake Stokes scored five times as his FC Rangers team was victorious against Foxhall Hoops.

There was a brace each for Jacob Cleary, Stevie Liptrott and Joshua Leach, while Kai Haigh completed the scoring.

There was an inter-club match at U15 level with FC Rangers playing FC Rangers Blues.

Josh Edwards and Ollie Leggett both scored hat-tricks and Daniel Jones completed the scoring for the Blues in their win with Connor Willis scoring for FC Rangers.

Squires Gate Reds dfeated Poulton, while Dominic Turner was another hat-trick hero as Kirkham Juniors Reds beat Thornton Cleveleys Whites; see pages 24-25 for more information.

Due to an unplayable pitch, there was only one match played in the U18s’ league where Foxhall were the winners against Poulton Town.

YMCA ORANGES UNDER-12 5 FC RANGERS 2

This Christmas Cup tie at an overcast and wet Seafield Road last Saturday was evenly contested during the opening stages.

Both teams created chances, but as the half wore on, YMCA began to take the initiative.

They scored three times with Rangers also finding the net, giving YMCA a 3-1 lead at the break.

As YMCA continued to have the edge after the restart they netted twice more with the visitors notching another consolation goal.

Noah Nicholson capped an outstanding display with a hat-trick with Will Stott and Cole McGuirk also on target.

Olly Chadwick and Seth Edgington were both notable throughout for YMCA.

YMCA BLACKS U12 9 BJFF PREDATORS 1

The visitors were depleted at Seafield Road last Saturday and had to play with a player short throughout this Christmas Cup tie.

Understandably, YMCA were always in control and scored at regular intervals during game.

Felix Twitchet and Mason Wilkins both netted pairs with Joe Livesey, Harrison Yeuletts, Marc Fairhurst, Freddy Perry, Tom Woodington, Ben Fitzjohn and Jamie Jay also on target.

THORNTON CLEV BLACKS U14 3 YMCA U14 5

YMCA were made to work hard for this victory at Thornton last Sunday.

A very evenly contested first half ended with the scores level at 1-1 with Thornton cancelling out a Thomas Shuttleworth strike for YMCA.

The second half continued in the same way before YMCA began to take the initiative adding a further four goals with Thornton adding two more to their tally also.

The outstanding Shuttleworth netted twice more to complete his hat-trick with Adam Brooks and Yash Passi also scoring.

Ross Hurst and Jack Murphy were both notable throughout in a hard-working YMCA team performance.

AFC BLACKPOOL U16 2 YMCA U16 1

AFC Blackpool took the honours in this top-of-the-table clash at Common Edge Road last Sunday.

After a very even first half, YMCA reached the interval with a slender 1-0 lead thanks to a strike by Michael Cryer.

It remained a closely-fought tussle in the second half but the home side fought back with two goals, one of them from a disputed penalty award to clinch victory.

The result kept their Phase One title hopes alive and probably ended YMCA’s hopes after this very entertaining and hard-fought contest.

YMCA GIRLS’ U12 4 LANGHO 1

YMCA bounced back well at Seafield Road last Sunday after their heavy defeat the previous week.

They were on top from the start but were guilty of missing numerous chances before they eventually made a breakthrough.

Two goals by Maisie Atherton and one from Ella Tanner gave them a 3-0 lead at half-time.

Cadley began the second half brightly and pulled a goal back but YMCA responded immediately with a strike by Libby Chandler to complete a well-deserved victory.