2012-2013 season

A number of new players joined the club this year forming the new Under 7’s.

Other teams enjoyed success in many areas including the under 16’s and under 13’s both receiving the fair play award for their league.

The end of season awards day was well attended and the weather made it to be a very enjoyable successful day.

All the teams are now looking forward to the new season and with all the changes taking place in youth football a number of the teams face new challenges.

Lets hope the new season is as enjoyable as the last, and the teams get the success they deserve.

The 2012-2013 season saw Rovers new under 7 team take their first steps in the world of League football.

Great coaches and brilliant parents were to ensure the lads would have a fun filled season.

The players blended together well and new friendships were made both on and off the pitch. Games were won, lost and drawn but all games were enjoyed.
As the season progressed the player’s skill s improved and they worked together as a team to bring together some memorable matches and some edge of the seat games.

This has been a thoroughly enjoyable year for all the coaches, and we are looking forward to next season, and all the lads once again enjoying their football and having fun.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the players and parents for being what every team could wish to have.

A REALLY BIG THANK YOU to all the coaches for putting in their time and effort to make the season the success it was.

Here’s to a fun filled 2013-2014 season.

Sean

We have had a great second season, with some fantastic debuts. The lads produced some great free flowing football, with thanks to Martin and Lee’s coaching. There were brilliant performances from everyone but a special mention should be made to Chris, Tom, James G, Leo and Reuben for winning the individual prizes for the season and for all the team as every one managed to get a goal.
Due to our superb performances throughout the season we will be playing in the Amber league in the for the 13 – 14 season.
Many thanks to all the parents for helping setup and pack away on match days your help will be much appreciated for the coming season.
I would like to say a big thank-you to Martin and wish him all the best at the FA.

Thanks Matt

Brilliant effort by all players. Were looking forward to 2013/14 season in the under 10’s. Keep up the good work.

The first season at 11-a-side was a tale of two halves, with the first half of the campaign seeing a successful group stage resulting in a second place finish behind Egerton YC (who would go on to win the first division) with 4 wins, a draw and a loss, and a goal difference of +10. This put us in the top division, and then the hard work started.

11 losses, 2 wins and a draw left us bottom of the table, but in truth the season was much closer. 5 games were lost by a single goal, and apart from Egerton YC we were competitive in most games, (highlighted by the fact that we ended with a better goal difference than 2 of the teams above us) with the highlight probably being a 6-0 away win over Holmes Chapel in the penultimate game. Both cup runs were short, as we were unlucky enough to draw Egerton YC in both first rounds, meaning we played them 5 times in total this season.

Tommy Brooks was winner of the golden boot, with 24 goals, and the end of season trophy winners were Ryan Butler, Max Hughes, Kyle Spencer, Mackenzie Lawton and Harper Whitehead.

We also are sad to say goodbye to 4 players in total this season, with Adam Potts being signed by Stoke FC early in the season, Ethan Owen to Rugby, and Ryan Butler and Dan Eardley going to a Kidsgrove team as we switch to Sunday fixtures. We wish them all the very best of luck.

Overall it has been a very enjoyable and rewarding season, despite the final result, and there is no doubt that the lads have improved throughout the season.

Finished 4th in the 1st Division, semi finalists in the cup, lost on penalties after extra time

What seemed like a never ending season finally came to an end in May with a good run of form in the last 6/7 games and a tightly contested 1-0 away victory in the final game.
Big thankyou to all the players and parents who have supported the lads come rain or shine.
Also a big thankyou to Tim who’s ‘retiring’ from the managerial position for all the hard work that goes unseen by most.

Looking forward to a productive 2013/14 Season!!!!

Following 2 successful seasons, and promotion to division 1, the Astros entered this season full of hope and trepidation. It was always anticipated that it would be a big step for the lads and unfortunately we were not wrong! throughout the season there were glimpses of the Astros of old but as soon as confidence drops and you get on a losing streak, even the simplest things that came as second nature get forgotten.

This would be a great opportunity though to play against the more established successful teams. We played against some great footballing teams this season which allowed us to learn more about the game and ourselves as a squad, which in the long term will prepare us for the next few years.

The lads commitment shone through, even though lady luck seemed to be against us in many games they continued to turn up, week in, week out, rain or shine to play and train with their team mates. They have made myself and the coaches extremely proud in how they have handled this season, yes it was frustrating and in most cases, certainly not fun BUT they have won the respect of many teams and managers in division 1 by continuing to play our brand of football and battling to the end. This year may not have shown success in relation to trophies but I believe that success can be measured in many different ways, the success from this season will be measured in how the lads have shown maturity & commitment. I am positive that we will bounce back bigger and stronger for our season in division 1 and we’ll be back in division 1 bigger and better in the years to come!

Well done to ALL the lads involved in the 2012/13 season for the Astros.

3 Seasons ago a new Rovers Blades team was put together. The first two seasons saw the team find their feet make friends as players came and went until this season the squad as it is today.

This season the team had stability and this began to show in the results. Blades have doubled their amount of wins each season with 2 wins in the first year, 4 wins in the second year and 8 wins this year. Also in the first season Blades scored 18 goals, the following year that was almost doubled to 34 this season the goals scored was an outstanding 86, more than doubling the previous season’s amount?

The passion and drive the lads have shown has been equally matched by the mature attitude they have taken the wins, losses and draws with, this is a credit to the lads. The attitude was reinforced this season by the team winning the under 13 Division Fair Play Award.

This season the team has come to realise they decide the outcome of games, this was shown in the results, where teams who had in previous seasons beat them by a large number of goals, where now losing to them.
The team this year has shown great improvements and will continue to build on this next season.

Well done to all the players you have been a credit to yourselves, the team and the club.

Bring on 2013-2014.

Competing in the 1st Division for the first time, we set our sights on finishing above all of the other promoted teams, which we did by finishing 7th out of 12 teams. We didn’t lose a game to the teams below us but also didn’t beat any of the teams above either. As a squad of players everyone played their part on achieving, what I believe to be a very successful season.
Each player has shown great development both personally and as an integral part of the team. We all must continue to improve and above all else continue to enjoy the game!

We all knew that it was going to be a tough season in Division One but we came through it . We have learnt a lot from the experience of life in this division and will be all the better for it in 2013 -2014 season. Well done to the squad members that `stuck with it` and did`nt `walk away`.

All in all this was a disappointing season. Promoted to the re-jigged division one, Rovers were hopeful of a mid table finish. After a poor start, Rovers were unlucky in a number of games and found themselves behind despite making all the play and chances. Consequently as the season wore on, the belief seemed to ebb away and in the last five or six games conceded too many easy
goals without looking like scoring themselves.

The season did end on a bright note as the team were awarded the Division One Fair Play trophy for the season.
Although it was a long and difficult season we always tried to play football the right way and this was clearly recognised by the other teams in the league.

This was Blades first season together as a newly formed under 18 team. It took a few games to find there best formation. From then they went from strength to strength, and played some great football. Out of the 17 players 13 of them managed to score. This was in its self was a great achievement and showed they have goals all over the pitch. With a bit of luck they could have finished 4th. Next season looks to be very promising, if they can carry the team spirit they have developed into next year they should have a very good season.