Airbus Under 9s travelled to Stoke City for a Christmas tournament featuring an excellent standard of opposition, including Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town, Exeter City and Sheffield Wednesday.

Over the course of the afternoon, the boys more than held their own against top-quality professional academy sides. They recorded impressive victories against Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday, earned a hard-fought draw against hosts Stoke City, and suffered two very narrow defeats against Exeter City and Huddersfield Town.

Throughout the tournament, the boys showcased their continually improving talents, producing fantastic goals, excellent passages of play, stout defending, and high-quality goalkeeping against elite opposition.

The Young Wingmakers Player of the Day was George Shirley, who delivered an outstanding performance in his defensive role, showing great bravery to step in, break lines, and help initiate attacks.

A fantastic effort from all the boys—well done!

Under 10

Airbus Academy Under 10’s - Stoke Festival

Our Under 10’s travelled to Stoke for a tournament featuring some of the best academies across England.

The lads had a great experience playing Stoke, Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton, Exeter and Huddersfield. Lots an opportunities to learn and challenges in a professional environment was a great way to end the year and the lads more than stood up to it.

Everyone enjoyed the games and came off with a smile on their face.

Well done lads.

Player of the week

Charlie Cleverley

Under 12's

Airbus Academy Under 12 4-2 Newtown Under 12

We hosted a much-improved Newtown Under 12 side on the Airfield grass pitch. The surface was slippery and, along with a windy day, made conditions challenging for both teams.

First Half
We played some very good football in spells and started with real intent.
A sensational five-minute four goals from Mason Rimmer effectively sealed the game early on. We created several good chances to extend the lead but couldn’t convert them.
Late in the half, a pass held up on the wet surface, allowing Newtown a one-on-one with the keeper, which they finished to make it 4–1.

Second Half
We continued to play positive, attacking football and created plenty of chances. Two goals were disallowed, and despite dominating large periods, we couldn’t add to the scoreline as much as we deserved.

Another unforced error gifted Newtown their second goal, but overall our control of the game never really dropped.

Overall
• Excellent three points
• Great fight and attitude in difficult conditions
• Strong performance to stay top of the table before the Christmas break

Player of the Match

Mason Rimmer
• 4 goals with top-level finishing
• Constant movement, defensive work, and intelligent runs
• Created multiple chances for himself and his teammates
• Currently the league’s top scorer

A very pleasing way to head into the break.

Under 13

Airbus Academy Under 13 7 - 0 Newtown Academy Under 13

The 2pm ko saw our Under 13s host Newtown on our grass pitch 9v9 format.

The windy conditions made it difficult as both teams found it difficult to maintain possession in the early stages.

In the 20th minute we eventually created an overload on the left side which saw Ted hit the byline pulling back the cross for Lucas to hit home with power. 1-0.

2 mins later a William pass broke the Newtown defensive line again finding Lucas who drove the ball at pace into top corner. 2-0

Airbus were now in total control and on the 26th min Freddie Rawson drove down the right wing pulling back his cross/pass directly to Harri Morris to accurately place in bottom corner 3-0

In the 32nd Min Gethin drove into the space available eventually scoring top corner with a 25yd strike. 4-0

After the kick off Airbus kept possession with ease which lead to a Right wing cross of which Lucas headed home for his hat trick 5-0

After the break Airbus kept up the intensity levels moving the ball with pace leading to many chances of which many were unfortunately wasted.

On the 36th min Harri Morris made it 6-0 with a low drive from the edge of area and completed his hat trick in the 43rd min with a drive from a box scramble. 7-0

Airbus totally controlled the match keeping possession, switching play from all throw ins and breaking the Newtown lines at ease.

A great team performance leading into the Xmas break.

Player of the Match

Lucas Worrall

Lead the line from the front with an aggressive press. His hold up play and forward runs along either his hat trick helped the team throughout.

Under 14

An early kick-off at home saw us host Newtown.

We started brightly and won an early corner, unlucky not to take the lead. Five minutes later we earned two more corners but again lacked conviction in front of goal. Newtown were under pressure, and in the 8th minute Jacob tested the goalkeeper with a shot. The keeper saved and tried to play out short to his centre half, but Mauro pressed well and forced a mix up, resulting in a handball and a penalty to us.

Macsen stepped up confidently and converted from the spot to give us a 1–0 lead.

We continued to enjoy plenty of possession but were sometimes guilty of taking too many touches.

At half time we spoke about moving the ball quicker, switching play, and playing as a team. We made a few changes.

Unfortunately, we conceded a cheap throw in early in the second half. We failed to clear our lines and Newtown capitalised on the confusion, crossing to the far post to equalise.

The balance of the team wasn’t quite right, but we quickly identified what was needed. In the 53rd minute, from a throwing in our own half, we moved the ball well and Daf was played in. He produced a great solo run, beat his man, and finished well at the back post to restore our lead. 2–1.

The goal boosted the boys’ confidence. We began switching play effectively and found a lot of success down the right hand side. Seb and Mauro linked up well, and in the 65th minute Seb beat his man and delivered a cross. A Newtown defender attempted to clear but made a mistake, allowing Mauro to strike first time and make it 3–1.

Overall, the boys moved the ball much better in the second half and showed real improvement in possession and decision-making.

Player of the Match

Mauro Alfonso

Mauro ran tirelessly throughout and showed determination and energy once again. Well done, Mauro!

Under 15

Airbus Academy Under 15s 2-2 Flint Town Under 15s

The Young Wingmakers played their third game in a week this time against Flint. The team were caught early trying to play our way and Goalkeeper Shay was caught however this was cancelled out a minute later where the team played their way out and were cynically cut down on the break.

Making the free kick count Charlie Wild places the ball to far post and Aiden scored with the back post head. The team then played a lot of the game in Flints half but couldn't get enough rhythm to the game with a start stop nature.

The second half the young wingmakers moved the ball well and pressed well catching Flint on a number of occasions scoring one. Unable to extend the lead despite clear chances and hitting the post. Airbus were undone by moment in the game and a great learning point for them on management of the game. Losing possession from a throw in in an attacking position Flint countered and scored an outstanding finish with last kicks of the game.

Well done to the players to manage their way through the busy Christmas period with three games in a week.

Under 16

Airbus Academy Under 16 4-1 Flint Town Academy Under 16s

A Friday night KO under the lights at the Hollingsworth Group Stadium as we entertained Flint Town Utd.

Airbus came out of the blocks quickly and had a couple of early chances only to be thwarted by the opposition GK.

We did take the lead when we utilised the detail that was delivered in our shape session the previous evening. We played out from GK Jack Booth into our centre half Alex Moody. He played an inch perfect pass into the path of Callum Reynolds, who beat the opposition defender 1v1, rounded the keeper and slotted home well. An excellent goal that we are proud of. It stayed 1-0 until half time as we had a further effort disallowed for offside and just couldn't add a second goal.

The 2nd half saw us step up our press and intensity. We scored our 2nd when Alex Moody won the ball aggressively in the opposition half, played the ball to Jake Pendlebury, who in turn played a 1st time ball through to Callum Reynolds to slot home his 2nd with his left foot. Another fine finish from Callum.

We added a third goal through a Jake Pendlebury penalty, after Callum Reynolds had been brought down in the box.

A slight lapse in concentration saw us concede a goal but we took the game away from Flint when Callum Reynolds grabbed the final goal and completed an excellent hat-trick when he pounced on a mistake from the opposition keeper.

An very good performance overall to ensure that we finish for Christmas on a positive note.

Player of the week

Callum Reynolds

An excellent hat-trick from the lad - but his overall work rate and effort was outstanding on the night. Cal is a great character in the dressing room with a great personality and we are now seeing this transpire on to the pitch. Well done Cal

Under 19

Airbus Academy Under 19 1-2 Flint Town Academy Under 19

Airbus hosted Flint Under 19’s Sunday afternoon at the Hollingsworth Group Stadium, with three Under 16 graduated to the Under 19 group

First half started with the young wingmakers playing into the wind but seemed in reasonable control of the game. Creating a number of good chances early on Airbus started really well. The official disallowed no less than three first half goals for Airbus and we struck the bar and post seeming in total control. Unable to deal with the one attack Flint could put together we end the half 1-0 down

Second half started the same with Airbus on top from minute one however, we knew it wasn’t going to go our way when we miss a simple tap in within the fist five minutes of the half only for the opposition to literally two minutes later to go down the other end and score from our own throw

Even though we camped out in the opposition half for most of the game we could not score, after creating enough chances to win ten games of football we were simply not good enough in both boxes than the opposition on the day

The last 25 minutes of the game we had all three of our U16’s on the pitch who did not let themselves down and gained some valuable experience. Finn Hayes who played 90’ and Bailey Davies/Dylan Cusato who played 25’

Towards the end of the game we managed to score a goal making it a bit of a fiery end but only a consolation goal in reality

Man of the match

Finn Hayes

Finn one of our advanced Under 16’s played a solid 90’ and isn’t scared of hard work. He ran and tackled like a man giving a fabulous account of himself. He trains hard and plays hard. A real tough lad with bags of quality and desire to boot.