Our Under 9 Tigers fell this week to Rugby Borough. It was a well-fought battle, but the Tigers couldn’t take their chances with Rugby punishing GNP, seemingly at every opportunity. Player of the game was Zorawar Shoker who battled hard in many positions on the pitch by putting his body on the line, time and time again.

The Under 8 Panthers girls had their first match as part of the Green division where they faced a team that were superb in their striking power and impressive cohesion. The girls gameplay became more defensive with Tino, Avneet, Roop, Ariana and Rehat blocking the consistent strikes. Rhea had a goal disallowed in the second half, with our only goal coming from Avneet. Well done to the girls for giving it their all with a smile!

GNP Under 8 Lions faced Copsewood Lions on the new Whitmore Park pitch & started the game well. Copsewood came back into it and GNP Sports found themselves a couple of goals down. They showed great heart and got back into the game to go in level at half time. GNP were then on top, creating plenty of openings but could not find the goals to take the lead. Copsewood managed to succeed where we had failed, and notched critical 2nd half goals. Nevertheless, it was another good account given by this new GNP team, who were 3 players down because of illness. If the team keeping improving, the standard of football keeps getting better, we are looking forward to good things from the team. Player of the match went to Mason Bhadal for his two assists and general good play, leading from the front.

The Under 7 Lions travelled away to Coventry Sphinx to play the strongest of their various Under 7 teams. The Lions went down early with a softly conceded goal which prompted Sphinx to turn up the heat to display some phenomenally mature passing and movement which proved too much for GNP. Whilst the boys battled as hard as they could to get something out of the game, the opposition continued to grow in confidence and bag more goals. The Lions failed to take their chances in front of goal resulting in another humbling result and a steep learning curve for the Lions.

Under 7 Tigers played Coventrians at home and continued their recent good form with Sohan grabbing his 1st goal and Aryan adding to his impressive tally this season. The first half was evenly matched with the Tigers giving away a couple of sloppy goals including a penalty. In the second half GNP were well in control and finished the match positively.

SUNDAY

GNP Under 16s also played Coventry Sphinx @ Sphinx Drive, and went 1-0 down early in the game, thereafter, totally dominating the play to come out as convincing winners, with Arian, Amaan & Bradley getting the goals to complete a 3-1 win, a good all round performance from the lads.

The high-flying Under 13s started slowly in this weeks top of the table Div D clash against Christ the King Blue, who were a very strong and well organised side. GNP had to battle and work hard to limit chances conceded to the talented opposition. It was a solid first half display as the boys dug deep to keep the score 0-0 at half time. Second half saw GNP make some changes, which helped straight away. The boys began to move the ball better and started to create chances. Both sides were up for the physical battle. With 15 mins remaining, GNP were awarded a free kick. Jacob stepped up scored an absolute beauty which went into the top corner. The boys rode out the expected pressure which came late in the game and were awarded with a well fought clean sheet and another 3 points.

The Under 11 Tigers have been in improved form and kept up this trajectory with another great performance and result away from home against a very good Balsall & Berkswell team. Jayden Jinga scored early to put the Tigers in front and although they missed a penalty, the Tigers battled hard and stood firm in the face of heavy pressure from the home team. Special mention should go to Aryan Singh who pulled off some out of this world saves to earn himself a clean sheet and player of the match!

The Under 11 Lions hosted Stratford Town Colts Tornados and gave away early goals through defensive errors, with another coming just before half time. The Lions did manage to get a goal back through Ajay Dhesi, but unfortunately further goals were conceded. Some great goal keeping on display again by Josh who was then replaced by Himmat who continued to make some great saves and hold firm for GNP for the remainder of the game.

The Under 10 Lions, fresh from their recent Cup exploits, were back in league action this week at home to Meriden Lions (Navy). The Lions dominated large parts of the game and ran out with a deserved result, keeping a clean sheet to boot! The margin could have been much greater in the absence of some resolute defending/goalkeeping from the opposition. Kyan grabbed an early goal for the Lions with Rajan continuing his rich vein of goal scoring form with a brace and Harman also getting himself on the score sheet. Keeper Dhairya pulled off one excellent save in the 1st half and was cool, calm and collected and when called upon. Good performance all around - well done!

The Under 10 Tigers looked to arrest an unfortunate run of negative results in their visit to Mount Nod. The boys dominated the chances, applying constant pressure throughout the game with substitute Oscar joining the fray and orchestrating the attacks from the middle of the park, deservedly earning him player of the match honours. Goals, however were hard to come by, with the 2 home defenders and their keeper in strong form. The breakthrough arrived on 30 mins when Aarun floated in a free kick from.the right - striker Jan rose highest to get a head to the ball and it looped up over the keeper and just over the line before Jan followed up to make sure and stab home. From there the quality of GNP football improved with Oscar instrumental in most moves. They couldn't grab the 2nd though, and the unthinkable happened when a defensive mix-up between Prabhvir & Iklil left the striker unchallenged 2 yards out for an easy tap-in. A final push proved fruitless and GNP came away from the game unbeaten but hugely frustrated!

The Under 9 Lions took on the Under 9 Pumas in the local GNP derby. The Lions started exceptionally and went ahead early with goals from Harjot Bahia and Ekam Nijjar coming moments after each other. An own goal from the Pumas and a brilliantly worked 4th from Jaylan saw the Lions go into the break well in control. Not wanting to take their foot off the gas, the Lions kept pushing and their efforts well and truly paid off as Jaylan got his 2nd of the game and Mankirat Kaur opened her account for the Lions with a brilliantly finished goal. Both teams kept going until the end, and with some superb defending and goal keeping, the Lions kept hold of their clean sheet.