Buckley Town FC: It is not just the senior team making eye-catching progress this season

While the fine early season form of Buckley Town’s senior team has caught the eye, the club’s under-16s have also been making great progress.

This young side has gone through several changes in recent months, some very last-minute in terms of coaching and structure, which obviously took its toll on player performance and confidence and resulted in the team finishing 9th last season in the Flintshire Junior Under-15 League.

However, the team has settled and trained more often in order to prepare for under-19s football and the upcoming season in the NEWJYFL U16s League.

Buckley Town Under-16s’ season started on Tuesday 27th August with a 2-0 win away to Brymbo Lodge U16s, goals from Logan Burdsall (assisted by Charlie Salisbury) and a penalty scored by Iwan Evans.

Credit to goalkeeper Charlie Holland for keeping a hard-fought clean sheet in what was a confidence-boosting great team effort all around.

Their second game was at home on 31st August to Penycae which resulted in a 9-1 win for Buckley. Goals came from: Alex Ramson (4), Logan Burdsall (2), Max McQuillam, Dylan Furnival and Evan Mitchell.

Buckley showed true passion on the pitch and a desire to win.

Manager Ellis Burdsall, 18, said: “I am proud of all the players’ attitude and commitment to the team and we look forward to hopefully what will be a great season in grassroots football.”

More recently, Bucks have progressed in the NEWFA U16s Cup after a 2-2 draw versus Lex XI resulted in a 4-2 win on penalties. Goals from Alex Ramson and a superb free kick from Iwan Evans made it 2-2.

Charlie Holland saved two kicks in the shootout, with the winning penalty for Buckley netted by Evan Mitchell.

Ellis Burdsall added: “I took over the team at the end of last season in what shaped up to be a difficult challenge, however I have received much support from Buckley Town. I’d like to give special thanks to club secretary Emma Iball, chairman Pete Edwards and first team manager Asa Hamilton.“

Chairman Edwards said: “As our under-16s enter their final season before being eligible for open age football, we’re delighted to have an up and coming young coach in Ellis on board.

“It’s a key season for the players to ready them for the next step as a club. We are proud to say we see many young players progress from our junior set up to the senior side of football and look forward to the continued progress of this season’s under-16s..

“I’d also like to say thanks to Richard Sayer, Graham Hounslow, Carl Butler, Mark Duffy, Lizzy Holland, Jack Woodward, Jamie Holland, Stu Tompkin and Ethan Tompkin for their irreplaceable hard work with the team.”