With a few players away, the Ross-on-Wye Royals Under 11s invited Mikey, Sam and Charlie to help them out in a recent friendly match against Lads Club Panthers, and all three new teammates made good contributions in an entertaining win.

Ross fell behind early on when Mikey made a good save, only to see another attacker on hand to knock the ball into an empty net.

The Lads Club then went on to extend their lead in almost identical circumstances midway through the half.

These early setbacks didn’t deter the home side, and some good attacking play was almost rewarded when Charlie saw his shot cannon off the post.

Another great chance came about when little Ollie chased a ball into the corner and set up Charlie, but his shot was well saved and Owen saw his follow up saved too.

The Royals finally got the goal they deserved just before half time, when Charlie hit a great pass to find Harvey unmarked, and he beat the advancing keeper with a fine finish.

There were some tactical changes at half-time, plus Ross started to rotate the players which made for a very entertaining second half.

Roo was unlucky to see a great strike cannon off the post, then some good play between Roo and Sol set up Ollie, but his shot just went the wrong side of the post.

Ethan, captaining the Royals, pulled Ross level with a strong run into the area and Sol put them ahead, following a great defence-splitting pass from Sam.

A great run into the penalty area from Bill was stopped illegally, but Roo couldn’t convert the penalty, and then he was denied by a great save by the Panthers’ keeper.

Lads Club should have then equalised, but somehow the ball hit the crossbar from three yards out and then forced Mikey into a good save.

Harvey sealed the win with his second goal of the game and, towards the end of the match, Ollie saw his effort saved, following a good team move.

The final score was 4 - 2 to Ross Juniors Royals.

There were many good performances with Ollie, Charlie and Ethan deserving a mention, but the man of the match was Harvey G who linked up well with his team-mates and took both his goals really well.