It was a good weekend for all of TUAFC’s JPL sides, as all of the age categories went unbeaten, with four wins and one draw.
United’s U12s were on the road at the weekend to face Mid Somerset RTC Whites and came from behind to secure three points with a hard-fought 5-2 victory. After going 1-0 down, Oscar Mills levelled the scores in the 35th minute, finishing off a great team move by firing into the top corner, before thirteen minutes later Thomas Ross put the Young Gulls ahead with a low-driven shot. Mills bagged a brace in the 50th minute, from the rebound from a Will Glanfield shot. The side’s fourth of the game came in the 58th minute when left-back Will Leigh beat the Somerset goalkeeper from 25 yards out, before the final goal of the game came in the 70th minute and saw Ross bag his brace with a lob over the keeper to secure the 5-2 victory.
Saturday marked the first victory of the calendar year for United’s U13 side when they hosted South Gloucester. The Young Gulls began well and put the visiting side under a lot of pressure in the early stages and were rewarded in the first quarter as a strike by Sam Bryan gave United the lead. The U13s were pegged back during the second quarter and the game entered half time 1-1, before the opposition made it 2-1 during the third quarter. The Young Gulls were quick out of the blocks in the final quarter and continued to put South Gloucester under pressure; Bryan struck for his brace with ten minutes left on the clock to level the scores. However the Young Gulls were not done just yet and a late Bryan corner found captain Dan Ayling whose header forced an excellent save by the Gloucester keeper, but the rebound found midfielder Max Pillar who was able to head home to make it 3-2 to United’s U13s.
The Club’s U14 side travelled to Swindon over the weekend to challenge a Wiltshire AFC side that are so far unbeaten across the whole JPL season and are renowned for their goalscoring antics. In tough conditions it was the home side who took the lead in the 29th minute. The Young Gulls responded well after half time, with a high press forcing the Wiltshire goalkeeper to make numerous saves in the third quarter. With both sides searching for a game-changing goal in the final quarter, it was United who levelled the scores in the 79th minute through Lucas Robinson whose high effort was misjudged by the opposition keeper, with the ball bouncing off the goal-line and into the roof of the net, 1-1.
After being without a game the weekend prior, the U15s were back in action at home against Mid Somerset RTC on Saturday. The Young Gulls recorded a 3-2 victory, and with a game in hand over the teams above, currently sit four points off the top, and will travel to second placed Bridgwater on Saturday, in what is sure to be a highly competitive encounter.
For United’s U16 side it was a team effort with five different goal scorers seeing the Young Gulls run out 5-2 winners when they hosted North Somerset RTC Greys at South West Devon 4G at the weekend. The side’s first goals came in quick succession in a great spell of play for the U16s, with three goals in eleven minutes from Kelson Pollard, Evan Murray and Joel Greenslade. Goals in the 76th and 80th minute followed by Farren Simons and Charlie Wood respectively to see United run out 5-2 victors.
A full list of the weekend’s results can be found below…
Mid Somerset RTC Whites 2 – 5 TUAFC U12s
TUAFC U13s 3 – 2 South Gloucester
Wiltshire Football AFC 1 – 1 TUAFC U14s
TUAFC U15s 3 – 2 Mid Somerset RTC
TUAFC U16s 5 – 2 North Somerset RTC Greys