Express & Star

Glassboys tackled each other

Steve Fellows' Stourbridge Under-11's side were not quite sure what to expect when travelling to Somerset to take part in a tournament held in Brean.

Published

But one thing they certainly didn't envisage was their two junior sides meeting in the final.

Fellows, who works in the development side of Walsall Football Club, recalled how it almost left him lost for words.

"It was a fantastic weekend and it will leave a lot of good memories for the players and their families.

"The final of the tournament itself was very weird. We had half of our lads playing in our home kit and half in the away kit – against each other!

"The best part was that the referee was unaware and we thought it would be interesting not to tell him.

"So they were all celebrating when each other scored.

"One of the lads was celebrating his birthday and they piled-on him when he scored. It was a great bonding experience for the lads."

The club is very much Fellows' project after he looked to take his full-time profession of developing youngsters into a passion.

He said: "We only formed a year or so ago. I was looking to get into it on a weekend and Stourbridge were looking for some help with their youth teams.

"We had a massive trials day and put a team together that have done very well.

"The Brean Tournament trophy was our 'treble' after winning two domestic cups against Lakeside and Telford United.

"It was the first time, really, since we started that we've been able to get all of the players and their parents to an event and it worked really well.

"It was a decent event. Much like your standard tournaments. Some mediocre sides and some very good sides.

"We got the squad in a local Travel Lodge and we played a bit of cricket and had a BBQ on the beach. It was a great weekend."

It promises to be a big summer for the team. Fellows works alongside manager Adam Winwood and the pair have just appointed James Moreton as their assistant ahead of the new season.

On a personal level, the Walsall coach has also taken up a further role within Stourbridge, looking after the academy side and ensuring they are good enough to progress into Gary Hackett's first-team.

But Fellows and his staff have big aims for the side that will be playing Under-12s next season.

"We're looking to get the lads into bag-packing and things like that to raise funds to pay for a trip abroad next year," he said.

"We're looking to fly them to Salou in Spain so that we can take part in the Barca Cup held in Barcelona.

"There are other such events in Holland too. That's the dream and what we are looking to achieve."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.