DUNMOW United under-8 Sharks were invited to participate in a day-long festival of football at West Ham’s Upton Park football ground.

Dunmow Broadcast: Dunmow United U8 Sharks at West Ham United FCDunmow United U8 Sharks at West Ham United FC (Image: Archant)

The tournament saw teams from all over the south-east competing against each other and the Sharks were put into a group with a mix of teams from the under-8 and under-9 categories.

They comfortably won their first game with a solid defensive performance and some good passing football with goals from George Sweeting and from captain Harvey Rawlinson.

For the second game, the Sharks were pitched against a team from the under-9 category who were physically much bigger. Even though the Sharks lost 3-1, the team gave a very good account of themselves. William Baddeley scored the goal for the Sharks and the team had a number of other close chances to reduce the deficit as the game progressed.

The final game of the tournament saw the Sharks matched again against a team from the under-9 category. It ended with a narrow 1-0 loss even though the Dunmow team had the majority of the play. They showed some fantastic skills, a real desire to play football and a steely determination. Perhaps most importantly of all, though, was to do all of that with a big smile on their faces.