Thurston Football Festival 2011 [19 Aug @ 2:46pm]

Thurston held their annual Football Festival on Saturday 25^thJune. The day involved an U9 and U10 tournament until 1:30pm. The afternoon saw the adults dust off their boots and compete in the first Thurston Shield five a side tournament. The teams competing in the Under 9 tournament were; Ixworth, Rattlesden, Elmswell, Hardwick and Woolpit. The under 9 section was hugely competitive all day long and after the first two rounds of fixtures it became apparent that there was three teams (Ixworth, Woolpit and Rattlesden) on a level playing field, all playing out 0-0 draws with each other. Then Elmswell pulled out a cracking performance against Rattlesden to get a draw which meant it would be an Ixworth and Woolpit final. The Ixworth team managed by Thurston’s Tom Parkington and Woolpit by Thurston’s new under 10’s manager Graeme Jolly. It was an exciting game which saw the game remain goalless until with 10 seconds left on the clock, William Bruce scored a poachers goal to give success to Ixworth.

The under 10’s tournament saw Walsham, Thurston A, Thurston B and Thurston 11 competing. It was again a competitive tournament which saw Walsham get off to a flyer with back to back victories. It was Walsham along with Thurston ‘B’ who contested the final, a very close final played out. But with a 3-2 victory it was Walsham who took the honours. A fantastic performance by all that took part in the youth tournaments.  
Thurston FC Shield 2011

Twelve teams contested the very first Thurston Shield, an adults five a side tournament. The tournament was split up into three groups, with the winners of the groups plus a best runner up going into the Semi-Finals. Group A consisted of Thurston Sundays ‘A’, We look good in pink, vests are cool and old farts ‘B’. Group B, Thurston 1^st ‘B’, Bus Shelter, The Titans and Ixworth Dads. Lastly, Group C saw Thurston Sundays ‘B’, Old Farts ‘A’, Thurston 1^st ‘A’ and the Badgers. Thurston Sunday ‘A’ won group A so they played their semi finalist against Group  C winners Thurston 1^st ‘A’. Meanwhile the other semi final was between Group B winners Thurston 1^st ‘B’ and Thurston Sunday ‘B’. Thurston 1^st ‘A’ were the first to make it to the final. The other semi final was end to end but after normal time it finished level and went to dreaded penalties. Unlike the English norm, the ball consistently found the net but it was on the 5^th and final penalty when Nathan Francis made a save to put Thurston 1^st ‘B’ into the final. A game that started close finished with Thurston 1^st ‘A’ emphatically triumphant in a 4-1 victory. The winning team were made up of Graeme Ellis, Paul Brand, Richard Graham, Luke Reilly, Dan Wright and Ben Carter.