There were encouraging performances and results from the many teams of community grassroots club Omonia Youth FC, sponsored by Diamond Corp. Ltd.

The weekend started off with a comfortable victory for Jack Markou’s U13 Green boys, with a 9-1 win against their opponents. Coach Jack commented “another superb performance from the boys today and controlled the game from the first minute until the last. The passing and movement, which we practice over and over in training, is now evident in matches and a joy to watch.”

Kyri Karaiskakis’s U8 Silver boys had their first match of the season this week. Their focus was on passing and easing them into playing as a team. The boys grew into the game and as it went on, they started to trust each other more and the passing started to connect. This culminated in a great team goal towards the end of the match. The U8 Silver’s had many more opportunities to score and it was a very encouraging second half performance from the team. Coach Kyri stated ” I am very proud of them. They never game up and kept running! Just great attitudes all around”.

David Poncia’s and Savvas Zavros’s U18 Gold boys, continued the run of wins this weekend for Omonia Youth FC, with a comfortable 4-1 victory against their opponents. The difficult weather conditions proved a challenge for the boys to initially adapt to the game with a wet and uneven pitch. They went into half time with a 1-1 scoreline. The second half saw them adjust to the conditions of play. They were strong in possession and took their opportunities and won the game 4-1. Nico secured two excellent goals with James and Ky also getting on the scoresheet. Nassim put in an outstanding goalkeeping performance and was awarded the player of the match award alongside Callum.

Tony Stylianides’s U13 White girls performed outstandingly this weekend with a 9-3 victory against their opponents. From the first whistle the girls played a high press game, closing down their opponents quickly. The girls moved the ball rapidly and accurately, demonstrating a good passing game. After creating many chances, the U13 White girls went into half time 7-2 up. In the second half, Coach Tony encouraged the girls to keep a clean sheet. They performed much more solidly defensively and only conceded one goal. Hatricks galore for Aanya and Ria with two goals from Sophia and superb finish from Izzy.

Nick Paraskeva’s and George Agrotis’s U13 White boys progressed into the next stage of the WFL challenge cup, after an 8-1 victory against their opponents. Coach Nick exclaimed, “I am very proud of my boys today. Having arrived to the game with only 10 boys, we played against an opposition of 11 players + subs and were absolutely superb. We even went down to 9 players for the last 10 minutes but it was unnoticeable”. To better enable the boys to approach this challenge, Coach Nick and George put on a couple sessions this week on how to defend against overloads. This set the boys up very well for the game this week. Coach George commented, “this was executed excellently by our man of the match Adam who got 3 assists. Roman continued his fine goal scoring form by getting another 5 goals today, which sees him on 18 goals in 6 games and the highest goal scorer across all 5 U13 divisions!”.

Andrew Demetriou’s and George Constantinou’s U13 Gold boys had an unexpected performance this week after going an impressive winning streak. Despite going 1-0 up very early on, their opponents had three strong strikers who were difficult to nullify from the game. Coach Andrew stated “the team had to cope with a lot of injuries and absences today which added to coming up against a difficult opponent. However overall it was a learning curve for the team. We tried to adapt our game and formation and kept it tighter as the game went on. The boys showed great attitude and determination to keep playing their game. Despite the result, a lot of positives and things to build on going forward.”

Chris Gregoriou’s Men I team progressed into the next round of the Middlesex Cup with a comfortable 7-3 win over their opponents. Coach Chris stated “you never know what to expect in the Middlesex Cup. We prepared ourselves for a tough game against a team from a top division in a different league. The boys started hard and fast and with Yianni scoring early on. This set us up for a good day and our best all round performance as a team this season.”

Should you feel enthused and want to know more about Omonia Youth FC, you can contact the club at [email protected], via the contact page on the club’s website www.omoniayouthfc.com as well as following the club on twitter @OmoniaYouthFC and Instagram @omoniayouthfc1994.