Blackpool Youth League match of the week: CN Sports Under-7s v Clifton Rangers Hornets

Under-sevens teams CN Sports and Clifton Rangers Hornets were both promoted to the top tier after Christmas and have won through to the quarter-finals of the Hogan Cup.

The progress of CN Sports is all the more remarkable as they only joined the competition in November.

Team boss Michael James told The Gazette: “We only started four weeks before the Christmas break.

"We moved over from YMCA, when CN said they could accommodate a second under-sevens team.

"We hit the ground running and we've really enjoyed ourselves.

"The lads love playing and all the parents get on really well.”

As for Saturday's game, a Hornets goal in the first minute set the tone for an end-to-end encounter which was far closer than the clubs' two previous meetings this season.

Clifton boss Michael Treece-Birch said: “It was a great game. Perhaps we were promoted a little too early but we're making good progress. The unusual thing is that only two of the players go to the same school, so they only really know each other through football.

“We came together in September, though most of the players had been at Clifton soccer camps for five and six-year-olds.”

Treece-Birch has coached before at Foxhall but team management is new to his CN Sports counterpart James, who has certainly thrown himself in at the deep end.

“I've taken charge of two teams,” he explains. “This one, which my son Harry is in, and the girls' team his twin sister Phoebe plays for.”

Henry was the CN Sports player of the match for a tough-tackling stint in the first half before showing his versatility by going in goal for the second. Clifton couldn't single out a star player and their manager added: “It goes to the whole team. Everyone worked really hard on a big pitch.”

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