Ross Juniors Royals U11s hosted Bartestree on Saturday and were unlucky to lose 2 – 1 in a well-contested match.

A mix up in the home defence early on handed Bartestree an indirect free kick, just inside their penalty area, and the visitors took advantage to go ahead with a well-placed strike. The Royals were unlucky not to equalise minutes later when a great through-ball from Ethan sent Ollie away. However, his shot went wide. Then persistence from Niall saw him break free of the Bartestree defence but he also shot wide. Harvey, Julien and Cedar linked up well in midfield but couldn’t create another clear cut chance.

Although there was not a lot of action at the business ends of the pitch the Royals probably deserved to be on level terms at the break, so it was unlucky that they had to concede a late second goal.

An angled shot was going narrowly wide but Roo wasn’t to know that, and he made a great instinctive save, only for the ball to fall nicely to an opponent to double Bartestree’s lead.

The Royals improved a lot in the second half and there were early chances for Jackson, making his debut, and Joe. The home side’s midfield of Julien, Sol, Ruben and Owen were winning the battle with their opponents and the Royals eventually pulled a goal back when Ollie found Niall on the edge of the area, and his turn and shot found the bottom corner.

The Royals continued to pressure the visitors. They had a great chance when Julien outpaced a defender, but saw his well-struck shot saved by the Bartestree keeper. Then Jackson saw his strike from long range also saved.

At the back, Theo and Cedar, and then Ethan, kept Bartestree at bay, although Roo twice had to race out of his goal to make a vital clearance. There was a great chance late on as Niall raced clear of the Bartestree defence but unfortunately his shot cleared the crossbar and Bartestree hung on to win.

With a great battling display, the Royals’ man of the match was Julien Mann.

The U11 Royals travel to Ledbury on Saturday, February 18th.