BRIGHOUSE Under 11s powered to a 10-3 home win over struggling Cumberworth in the RCD Huddersfield Junior League.
Allocating Under 11 teams to divisions in which they can compete with teams of similar ability is an almost impossible task faced by the RCD League committee at the beginning of each season.
Most teams have played only mini-soccer prior to entering the Under 11s and there are many teams that have never played at all.
This season was made even worse as the FA introduced a 9-a-side format which most teams have never played before.
Very often the teams themselves don’t know how strong they will be and, with no previous form to go by, inevitably, a small number of teams will find themselves in the wrong division.
One instance of this might be Cumberworth, whose record of having picked up just one point from their opening 10 games leaves them firmly anchored to the bottom of Division II.
And another heavy defeat at the hands of Brighouse will not have done their confidence any good but, if their effort and enthusiasm is anything to go by, they will start to pick up points before the season ends.
Driven on by manager Barry Amaral, whose coaching skills include a never-ending stream of encouragement, Cumberworth found the net on three occasions thanks to strikes from Ethan Sanderson, Ted Marsden and George Haigh.
But replies from Tom Kershaw (4), Tapa Tafatatha (2), Sam Jackson (2), Joe Porter and Declan Raistrick led Brighouse to a comfortable win.
A number of previously postponed County Cup games were played.
In the Under 16s, Hartshead secured a comfortable victory over Steeton.
The Keighley side netted twice but replies from Luke McCarron, Craig Morgan, Rowan Binns, Brandon Hemmingway and Marley James secured a comfortable 5-2 win for Hartshead, who now face an away trip to Pontefract St Josephs in the last 16.
