Budleigh U10s kicked off 2026 in superb fashion with a fantastic performance at a mini tournament held at Court Fields School in Wellington. Facing strong opposition and challenging winter conditions, the boys showed great resilience, teamwork and quality to come away as tournament winners.
We started the day with a convincing 2–0 win against Tithebarn, with goals from William and Tommy setting the tone early on. That was followed by a hard-fought 1–0 victory over Cullompton 2, with William finding the net again from the left wing. A tough 3–0 loss to Twyford Spartans tested the group, but the response was excellent as the boys bounced back with a 1–0 win against Twyford Gladiators, once again thanks to a William goal.
The final group game saw us draw 1–1 with Cullompton 1, Archie Shields getting on the scoresheet. That result was enough to see us progress through to the final, where we faced Twyford Spartans once again, a team who had already beaten us earlier in the day.
Going into the final, the boys showed real maturity, adopting a new game plan focused on confidence and sustained pressure. It paid off when Shieldsy put us 1–0 up, but Twyford responded well and levelled the game before full time. With the score tied at 1–1, the final went to penalties.
In a tense shootout, our super keeper Carter stepped up in a big way, saving two penalties to secure the win for Budleigh. A brilliant moment and a deserved reward for the whole squad after a long, cold day.
It was great to see the boys hit the ground running after the Christmas break, and special recognition goes to Tommy, who was voted Player of the Day by his teammates.
A big thank you to Twyford for arranging the tournament and securing 3G pitch space when many grass pitches were frozen, and to our parents for braving the cold and making the long journey to support the team. A cracking start to the year.