Shropshire Star

Young AFC Telford stars are making an impact

Head of youth Luke Shelley is beaming with pride after a stellar season for AFC Telford United’s up-and-comers.

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Around 300 youngsters have turned out across 15 Bucks youth teams over the 2016/17 season, and a couple still have cup finals left to play.

The under-12s and under-14s girls will both be competing for silverware at Shifnal Town tomorrow – six days on from an under-11 boys side representing the club at Wembley.

A team of youngsters from Lawley Primary School did the Bucks proud, winning county and regional finals to make it to the home of English football for the National League Trust national finals.

They graced the hallowed turf prior to the National League play-off final, along with Braintree Town, Kidderminster Harriers and Gateshead.

And although they finished last after a round-robin format and third-place play-off, Shelley was delighted with their efforts.

“It was fantastic. It was brilliant, to be fair,” he said. “There was around five or six thousand people watching the lads as the stadium was already quite busy in the build-up to the play-off final between Forest Green Rovers and Tranmere Rovers.

“We lost two group games and drew one, and then lost the third place play-off against Kidderminster. Of course, winning would have been nice but it wasn’t about that – it was about being an experience the lads will never forget.

“They were in the Wembley dressing room, and the pitch was like a carpet. It was a truly great day for everyone involved – and the cup final afterwards was a good game too.”

It is not only the under-11s who have given a great account of themselves recently.

The under-18s boys recently won the Shropshire Youth Cup at the Greenhous Meadow, following on from the first team winning the Shropshire Senior Cup at the same ground earlier this year.

The under-10s and under-14s girls both won cup finals last weekend – the Charity Cup, and Shropshire League Cup respectively – while the under-eight boys won the Shropshire FA Charter Standard Tournament.

Not looking to rest on their laurels though, the onus is on recruiting more youngsters as open trials are taking place across various age groups over the summer including the girls under-13s, 15s and 16s teams.

“We must have won seven or eight cups in the last fortnight – the boys and girls teams have done us really proud,” said Shelley.

“We have won quite a bit. Of course, for the boys we are trying to create a pathway to the first team and a few were involved with them last season.

“The under-18s won the Shropshire Cup, just as the first team did, and of course the under-eights boys, under-10s girls and under-14s girls won trophies last weekend.

“This weekend, the under-12s and under-14s girls are in cup finals at Shifnal. We have done alright this year.”

The club are also launching an open age ladies team for the upcoming season, and Shelley said: “It’s about getting the girls ready to compete in the women’s team – and women’s football is massive now.

“The FA wants to get a lot more girls involved in football, and now I think people are really taking notice.

“We have five or six girls teams in competitive leagues, but we haven’t won them all – the standard is very good. The likes of Birmingham City and Aston Villa have really good girls sides, but who’s to say we can’t be on the same level in a few years?”

Such is the size of the club’s youth, the end-of-season presentations have had to be split across three different nights.

The first one, for the younger boys sides, has already taken place at the New Bucks Head. The second, for the under-13s to under-18s boys is going ahead tonight, with first team assistant boss Larry Chambers set to be on hand to present awards. Then, the girls’ presentation night is on Friday, June 9.

Shelley added: “We are getting the presentations done across three nights, as with all the parents you are looking at a lot of people so it wasn’t possible to do it in just one night.

“We will get those done, then have a few weeks off and then we are holding open trials, and we are looking for youngsters who are looking to improve and enjoy themselves.”

For more information on how to get involved with the Bucks youth set-up, look up @AFCTU_Youth_Dev on Twitter.