North East Sports Rockets U14's

Football is back at Monkwearmouth this weekend as we face Washington Athletic Sparta in our season opener.

We played out a thrilling friendly last night against Washington United Blacks. Going in to the match with only 11 available was always going to be challenging but the lads gave everything they had and felt a bit unlucky to lose late on.
Rockets started on the front foot and it wasn't long before Kai got in to loft a nice finish over the keeper to give us an early lead. Blacks quickly found an equaliser from a quick breakaway, before Kayden restored our lead with a cracking finish from distance. We were getting lots of joy down the wings with Kai and Kayden causing havoc, so it was disappointing when Blacks equalised again through an unfortunate own goal. Our heads didn't go down though, as Brody put us ahead again with a long range finish at the 2nd attempt. HT - Rockets 3 Blacks 2
2nd half we started to tire and Blacks really started to punish us. We slipped to 5-3 and then 6- 4 down, but battled back brilliantly with goals from Jason, Kai and Benji to bring us back to 6-6. We then pushed hard for a winner, hitting the post and having shots cleared off the line, but it wasn't to be. Washington kept going and grabbed a late goal with a great strike to seal a thrilling 7-6 win.
Credit to Washington Blacks who were excellent and gave us a very competitive game. We wish them luck for the season ahead. We can be proud of our performance as the lads really had to dig deep with some big players missing and we never gave up. Some areas to work on, but lots of positives too, including some cracking goals scored. Man of the Match was Kai who was outstanding on his first match back after recovering from a broken wrist.
We travel to Whitburn Panthers on Saturday for another friendly, as we step up our preparations for the season.

A reminder: ⚽ FREE Summer Football — every week, all summer long!

Calling all 10-14 year olds in Sunderland — we're running free football sessions every week through the summer at Monkwearmouth Academy, and everyone's welcome.

Turn up, play, have fun. No cost, no commitment, qualified coaches on hand. You don't need to play for a team already — whether you want a proper kickabout with your mates or you fancy developing into one of our league sides, come along.

📅 Every week from Wednesday 22nd July 🕕 6:00–7:30pm 📍 Monkwearmouth Academy, SR6 8LG 💷 Free
Sign up once and come whenever you like 👉 https://northeastsport.as.me/summerfootball10
Bring a friend. See you on the grass! 💙

After our tournament win last weekend, we are in action again this Saturday as we face Washington Athletic Sparta at Home.