10th Grade Papakura City FC Phoenix
The Phoenix team won their group at The McCartney Invitation Tournament in Taupo on the Weekend of the 10/11th Oct. This talented team, coached by Chris Turner, played some brilliant football and scored a total of 38 goals and conceded only 1.
Papakura Phoenix won all of their games – Teams Played in the Tournament were Wellington Western Suburbs 10 -0 , Taupo 11- 0, North King County 9-1, Wellington Karori 2-0, Fencibles 1-0, Hamilton 5-0.
The games were 25 minute halves so a total of nearly 6 hours of football was played in the freezing weather.
In an impressive year this team came 2nd in this years AFF 10th Premier Div 1. They won the 10th Grade Pre Season Tournament at Hamilton, won the 10th Grade Tournament at LynAvon and won the 10th Grade Tournament at Pukekohe.
Players: Alex Greive, Josh Turner, Charles Spragg, Rory Higgins, Troy Tapsell, Jared McAnulty, Daniel McAnulty, Pranay Singh being the core team but as the Tournament was 9 Aside Max Mata and Jack Cameron (From the winning 9th Grade nationals Team ) completed the 9 aside tournament team.
Goal Scorers were Alex Greive, Josh Turner, Charles Sparagg, Rory Higgins, Jack Cameron.
Both Alex Greive and Rory Higgins are members of the Papakura Academy.
Chris Turner states "The Papakura Phoenix 10th Grade Team are one of the top teams for their age in Auckland and everyone of them has improved as player. They are all good players and some of them are a cut above and potentially could go a long way in the game although they are still very young. It is very hard to reach the top and become a professional or play for New Zealand but they have the ability and could get the chance to make their dream a reality. As a team they have played some very good football and you could argue it is better to watch them play than a lot of senior teams!" |
