Double delight for the hosts Deeping

DEEPING Rangers made home advantage count by ending their five-year trophy drought at the Neil Olson Memorial Tournament.

Rangers won both the Under 10 and the Under 11 age groups to end a miserable run of form at their own event which was held over the Bank Holiday weekend.

And it wasn’t just Deeping who enjoyed the two-day tournament, which was a huge success with almost 60 teams and more than 450 young footballers from across the area all taking part.

Stuart Benson of Deeping Rangers said: “We have done it for the last 15 years and even though the weather was not great this year, it was still a big success. And of course we were delighted to have won a couple of age groups this year too.

“For the past few years the best Deeping sides have managed is the semi-finals but to win the Under 10 and Under 11 age groups this year was a terrific performance from both teams.

“I would also like to congratulate Feeder Soccer who won the under 9s group, but every team that took part helped make it such a good occasion.

“There was some really good football played in all the agegroups and the Under 7s and under 8s had a good time and gained some valuable experience with their games.

“We have had some wonderful feedback from visiting managers and look forward to running the

james.westgate@jpress.co.uk event again next year.”

After topping their group, Feeder stormed into the final by beating Werrington 3-0 before seeing off Spalding by the same scoreline with goals fom Jonah Jay (2) and Ollie Sercombe to claim the under 9 title.

Things were a bit tighter for Deeping Blue in the Under 10s, however. After scrapping their way to the top of Group Two, Stuart Benson’s boys beat Blackstones 1-0 in the semi-finals thanks to a Connor Bell strike to set-up a final clash against Gunthorpe.

And the Group Two runners-up put up a real fight, taking the final all the way to penalties. And while Tomi Ogunyoye and Tom Game were both on target from the spot, successful strikes from Ryan Olbromski, Ethan Russell and Harry Tidswell saw Deeping claim the title 3-2.

Things were a little more straightforward for Deeping in the Under 11s where Jamie Roe’s goal saw them past Hampton Blue 1-0 while in the other semi-final a Jack Wilson goal sealed a 1-0 win for Peterborough Northern Star against Glinton Red. And in the final Roe was on target against for Rangers who took the honours with another 1-0 victory.