Crusaders Football Club

💛 U8s 💚

*Crusaders U8 vs Redditch Borough Juniors U8*

Crusaders U8 started thier season off away against Redditch Borough.

It was a dream start with Aadam picking up the ball and finding the net after a driving run from the back inside a minute. Crusaders were on top with Charlie finding himself in some good positions but unable to get a goal.

Alex made some fantastic saves in goal to keep redditch at bay as they started to attack more. Redditch managed to get 2 goals before all Elijah Caines hard work was rewarded with a goal to go onto half time at 2-2.

Redditch started the 2nd half strong finding the net 3 times quickly. Layth kept battling for the ball and made some good runs down the wing. Grey was working hard up front putting a lot of pressure on the redditch players before getting hit in the face and having to come off. Both Redditch and Crusaders managed one more goal before the final whistle to leave the score 6-3.

Well done to all the lads it was a hard game and despite the scoreline there was a lot of good points to take from the match.

Parents player - Layth for all his hard work and runs down the wing.

Coaches players - Aadam and Elijah for all there hard work in defence and attack. And some great goals.

💛 U13s 💚

*Crusaders vs Bromsgrove Rovers AFC*

A solid performance today, building on last weekend’s win. We took an early lead thanks to Sahil’s calm finish. ⚽️
Crusaders looked a little hesitant at first, game memory briefly lost after the summer break but they settled as the match went on.
Amar stretched the lead with a driven finish into the corner. ⚽️
A lapse in concentration and players standing off instead of clearing the box allowed Bromsgrove to capitalise with a scrappy goal.
The team pushed on and matched Bromsgrove’s intensity, eventually being rewarded with Amar’s second.⚽️
We then began to see the familiar game practice from last season: Amin stepping forward, switching play, pulling Bromsgrove out of position and creating multiple chances we were unlucky not to convert.
A special mention to Subhaan for an inspirational last‑ditch challenge on the goal line, preventing a certain Bromsgrove goal.👊
In the second half the team settled well but had to battle hard. Bromsgrove challenged every ball, but eventually our desire and work rate paid off with two penalties both finished with power by Amar ⚽️ and Subhaan⚽️
Well done to the team. A great performance from Amin, leading by example congratulations on Parents’ Player.💚 🏆
Recognition also to Ewan for slotting in at the back and managing a sweeper role effectively alongside Harry and Oscar.💚 🏆
A great team effort today smiles all round and team spirit high.👌😀👍

💛 U12s 💚

The under 12s began their season with a trip to Boldmere St Michael's. We started slowly and were on the back foot but gradually grew into the game and created chances of our own, including Rayhaan having a shot cleared off the line. We conceded a scrappy goal 5 minutes from half time then two more from set pieces to go into half time 3-0 down. The boys picked themselves up and went again in the second half, creating openings and defending well. We conceded another but the boys kept plugging away, having a goal harshly disallowed and Raheel hitting the bar with a fine strike. We conceded two late goals to make the final score 6-0 but this did not reflect the performance. Parents player was Harvey who defended superbly, making important tackles and distributing the ball well. Jonathan's player was our goalie Leo who pulled off some brilliant saves. Pete's player was Raheel who was a constant threat going forward but also worked hard in defence ⚽ 😁

💛 U12s Greens 💚

Bright performance by the U12 Greens this morning in our opening game of the season away at Inkberrow Eagles.

Crusaders stood toe to toe with Inkberrow from the start, despite them taking the lead in the 10th minute from their scrambled corner. Crusaders continued to battle to close down Inkberrow and create chances of our own, until we drew things level from a great curling corner from Jonah in the last minute of the first half.

It was all still to play for in the second half but Inkberrow managed to covert another corner early on and scored again soon after while we were still reeling. Crusaders regrouped and continued to battle but were just not able to get the ball over the line, and a late break seen Inkberrow seal the win as the clock ran out.

Some great positives to take away as the scoreline isn’t reflective of our performance and doesn’t take anything away from how well the boys played.

Choosing POTM was a tough decision, however POTM went to:

*Blake* for a solid central performance, closing down Inkberrow chances and driving forward with some pin point long balls.

*Norton* for his thoughtful passing, battling and determination until the final whistle.

💛 U11s 💚

U11 began their season away to Solihull Superstars. Game began and we were pressing hard from the start and forcing Solihull to go long which Noah and Harrison in defence would happily take control.
We’ve been working on passing movements in training and it was really pleasing to see it on the pitch. Our high pressure won us a kick in which led to our opening goal, Gabriel crossing into the box and it fell kindly to debutant Arses for him to fire into the top corner. We didn’t let up and passed our way up the pitch with Gabriel finding Jack who played it back to Oanaa who slotted home. With some players missing we had to play some players out of position to give others a rest and Harry playing out on the wing gave a good showing and pressed high. Heading towards half time Solihull broke through and fire in a low shot which our other debutant Finn made an excellent save to keep us level at the break.

2nd half was much of the same with Crusaders playing some lovely passing football and creating plenty of chances Reuben shooting marginally wide from the edge of the box, also both Harry and Arses hitting the bar. Solihull grew into the game a bit and saw more of the ball as the game headed towards half the final whistle but the whole team defended brilliantly. Shoutout to Harrison for stepping into defence for today. We added another when Arses took a corner and it hit of a Solihull player and snuck passed the keeper to put the game out of reach.

Amazing performance from the boys today everyone ran their socks off (thanks to the circuit training in preseason). A Perfect start to the season and back to Rowheath next week for our first home game!! 🔰

Parents player- Gabriel
Coaches player - Arses

💛 U13s 💚

Christ the King 2–3 Crusaders U13 Girls

Our U13s arrived at Christ the King expecting a difficult morning against what we know is a very good team.

The girls seemed excited to begin the season and quickly got out of the traps from the first whistle. Phoebe was focused from the start, confidently ushering her team forward from goal and ready to begin our moves with some lovely kicking.

Crusaders started to play some lovely football across the whole pitch and eventually found the breakthrough when Lilah played a perfectly weighted pass through to Gracie, who beat her defender before expertly finishing to give us the lead.

Crusaders continued to dominate, with Jamie beginning to find time and space to drive at the defence. Olivia remained a constant threat down the wing and Crusaders thought they had doubled their lead when some silky footwork from Liberty found Olivia, who burst down the wing before playing a wonderful cross to Gracie. Gracie found the top corner once again, only for our disappointment as the flag had been raised to deny what would have been a wonderful team goal.

Crusaders did extend the lead shortly afterwards when Olivia beat her defender before crossing for Gracie, who made no mistake in grabbing her second goal of the match.

Throughout the first half, captain Maisie organised her team brilliantly, while Eva was, as ever, reliable and rock solid at the back.

The second half saw us welcome our birthday girl Ellie back from injury. Christ the King started the half quickly and Ellie was immediately called into action, making some great shapes and saves to keep Crusaders in control.

After a short period of pressure, the home side did half the deficit with a good long-range finish to make the score 2–1.

Crusaders remained on top, though, and Sophia began to hold the ball up really well before finding her teammates. Our third goal of the morning came from Alexa, who fired home the rebound after some excellent bravery and strength from Jamie saw her shot blocked by the goalkeeper, with Alexa following up to finish.

Christ the King never gave up and, with just two minutes remaining, found another goal to make the final stages a real grand finale.

Crusaders held firm, with a brilliant headed clearance from Liberty followed by some excellent team defending seeing us through to take all three points.

**A fantastic opening-day performance from the girls against a very good Christ the King side. Plenty of positives to take, great teamwork throughout, and a brilliant way to start the season!** ⚽💛💚

💛 U11s Greens 💚

Greens U11 Girls played their first match of the season this week with a friendly against Leafield Storm.

Led out by Captain Mhairi the Greens started off on the front foot and were quick to attack but Leafield players got back and defended well.

Then Tuba got on the end of one of Maddie’s goal kicks and battled hard with a Leafield defender, before passing to Darcy who shot just went wide.

This was quickly followed by a lovely cross by Elsie H to Evelyn who shot was saved by goalie.

Then it was Leafield turn to attack with a lovely ball through to a score putting them ahead.

Though the Greens were behind they kept fighting and it wasn’t long before Elsie H sent across another cross which was deflected by the goalie falling at Tuba feet, but her shot hit the post.

The girls worked hard and continued to attack, but it was Leafield who were able to take advantage of their chances to score again.

Then just before half time Greens attack again with numbers in their box resulting in the ball falling to Elsie, Tuba and Mhairi in quick concession but somehow were unable to get the ball over the line.

At the beginning of the second half the Greens kept up the pressure, resulting in Elsie H taking a quick kick-in deep in the Leafield half which ended in a powerful shot that the goalie got a hand to but was unable to stop.

The girls continued to battle and finally Tuba scored the goal she had come so close to all game to equalise.

It looked like it was going to be a draw but Leafield once again got through to score the final goal.

Though we didn’t start the season as we like the girls all played brilliantly and considering Leafield had already played a couple of games and it was the Greens first, they played really well, and as normal against Leafield, produced an end to end exciting game which they should all be very proud of!

Parents player was Tuba for her work rate and numerous shots on goal.

Coaches player was Evelyn for her work down line and for going into goal the 2nd half.

I would also like to make a special mention to Mhairi who was playing her first game for us and who played really well, i know she is going to be a real asset to the team!

💛 U11s 💚

Crusaders Girls U-11 Yellow had their first league game of the season away vs a revived Northfield Town. With some familiar faces in the opposite squad and on the sideline it was fate this was going to be the first game of the season.

As I was hot footing it from our U-8’s game in Solihull, Coach Katherine took the team for the first half. From what I’ve heard Northfield scored first relatively early on but we didn’t let it sink us and it was a good contest. Northfield converted a Penalty and a few other goals and Ellie snuck in at the back post from a corner from Elizaveta to score for yellows leaving Northfield ahead at half time but by no means a foregone conclusion.

Second half and we would strike first, a great through ball from Maddie splitting the defence for Isla B to run onto and calmly slot away into the far corner and we were back within striking distance.

The girls were working hard accross the pitch, against a good Northfield team. The energy levels then started to drop, this was the first 50min game we’ve played since May and a lot of girls have been away over the summer and when Northfield started to find pockets of space vacated they finished with a flurry.

Overall a good showing for our fist game back for a while and three new players in the squad.

Parents player was Maddie for a great assist and a real energetic performance tracking back and winning tackles.

Coaches player was Margot, dominant display in defence and went on a few full pitch runs from CB to set up some chances.

But all the girls had some great moments in the match, some of the passing football we’ve been working on starting to show.

Well done to Northfield, was nice to catch up with them. We now have a week off before returning with some Friendlies vs Boldmere Falcons and Boldmere St. Michael’s as we have some blank weeks in the league.

💛 U8s 💚

Crusaders Girls U-8’s had their first ever league game away at Silhill today. The girls played so well and we’ve been working on tackling recently and they were fearless today and didn’t let Silhill get into any kind of rhythm.

The scoring was opened by Connie with a great finish and added to by Maria with a strong strike low into the corner. Silhill worked hard but just could break through and when they did Megan in goal was ready for them. Maggie and Cora went on some brilliant runs forward but it was Lyra who scored next in the second half to get into double figures including friendlies but her first ‘Official Goal’. Ella did some really good passes and pressing and showed some good tackles which she’s been working on. So the whole team played sooo well. One very proud coach.

Parents player was Megan for a clean sheet in her first official game which for a goalkeeper is such a good achievement.

Coaches player was Cora for her work rate in defence and her runs forward. She’s one of three girls in the squad ‘Playing up’ (Including Maria and Serena) so she’s doing fantastically.

CCC’s at rowheath next week.

💛 U10s 💚

Under 10s Yellows Open the Season Against Knowle Jets

Under 10s Yellows kicked off their new season with a tough test against a well organised Knowle Jets side. It was the Yellows' first competitive match of the campaign against more experienced opponents, and the players showed real courage taking on a team that passed and moved the ball with impressive composure.

There were some lovely moments from the Yellows throughout the game, spells of neat passing, brave decisions on the ball, and a real willingness to keep trying new things even when things got tricky.

Knowle Jets' experience showed at times, and the gap in match sharpness was clear, but the Yellows never stopped competing or supporting each other.

Opening day games like this are exactly where the real learning happens. Every pass, tackle, and mistake today is part of the process of building confidence and understanding for the season ahead. As a coach, I was proud of the effort and attitude shown, and the whole squad should be excited about how much they'll grow from a challenge like this.

Parents player of the match was Freya, who made a number of great passes and always tried to play out with the ball.

Coaches player was Betsy who had a great stint in the first half in goal pulling off some amazing saves.

A great starting point for the season onwards and upwards, Yellows! 🟡🟢⚽