It’s been six weeks since the Ross Juniors U10s last competitive match and perhaps that might explain why they initially struggled to find any fluency on Saturday, however, they won 3-1 against Tenbury Utd U10s.

They were at sixes and sevens in the opening minutes and Roo Tighe, making his competitive debut in the Ross goal, could do nothing about Tenbury’s early strike that put them one up. However, he made a good stop moments later to keep Ross from falling further behind.

Tenbury continued to edge the play. Following a tactical reshuffle, Josh Evans and Bill Ashelford repelled most attacks comfortably and Ross started to get hold of the ball in midfield, especially with Harry Fernandez-Ford pressing his opponents.

Ross had almost equalised when Jake Hedges created a half chance for himself just inside the area, but his shot went the wrong side of the post. A break down their right eventually lead to the equaliser when David Mason found Eddie Price with a cross-field pass and, after controlling the ball, Eddie swept the ball in off the far post with his trusty left foot.

Ross were better in the second half and soon went ahead. Owen Roblin pressed a defender into a hurried back pass and Harry nipped in to score his first goal of the season.

Tenbury almost equalised following a quick counter-attack, but Roo made a great save at his near post. Ross then stretched their lead when Bill collected the ball on halfway, beat two opponents, and hit a thunderbolt that the Tenbury keeper failed to stop.

That was the Juniors 50th league this season. Eddie then went on a great run but was tackled just as he was about to unleash his shot and from the rebound Harvey Gwillim shot wide. The game opened up, but David and Josh dealt with pretty much everything Tenbury threw at them.

At the other end, Jake had a great long-range effort that just cleared the bar. He then played an exquisite through-ball to Eddie, who must have thought he had scored, but the Tenbury keeper made a superb save.

As the minutes ran out the home side had Roo to thank for another good save, which meant there was no nervous finish to the game. The Masons Fencing & Firewood Man of the Match goes to Roo Tighe for a great performance in goal on his debut.