After an unbeaten pre-season, Ross Juniors Under 11s kicked off their league campaign in a confident mood as they welcomed last season’s cup winners, Leominster Town Minors U11s, to the Ross-on-Wye Sports Centre on Saturday morning.

The home side fell behind early on when Roo parried a vicious shot from a Leominster attacker, only for the ball to fall nicely back at their feet. They tucked the ball away at the second attempt, but in no time Ross were on level terms; Eddie’s pass put Harvey through and he slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Five minutes later, Harvey returned the favour as he set up Eddie to put Ross ahead. The home side then had their best spell of the game with some neat play across the midfield.

There was a real battle in the midfield between the two teams, but neither team could create another clear-cut chance, so Leominster resorted to long range efforts. Roo dealt with this comfortably, and Ross went into the break 2 – 1 up.

The first chance of the second half was another long range effort from the visitors, which forced Roo to tip the ball over the bar. The first chance for the home side fell to Eddie, but his shot was well saved.

Ross soon extended their lead when Jake Talbot fired a shot in, which the keeper did well to parry. Eddie latched onto to the loose ball, but his shot was blocked. However, Harvey made a well struck shot from six yards out.

As the boys on both sides started to tire, the match opened up and the Ross defence dealt really well with a Leominster attack, whilst a great break and pass from Luca set up Eddie to fire an unstoppable shot past the Leominster keeper, putting them 4 – 1 up.

It all seemed pretty comfortable until a few players picked up injuries and had to come off. This unsettled the Ross boys, and they conceded two late goals, but the boys managed to hang on to their deserved win.

The Harley Finishings man of the match was Harvey Briscoe.