Terrific Town kids excel in Germany beating likes of Schalke

They were in action in seven-a-side outdoor competitions with the U9s finishing fourth out of 32 teams at the Dorsten-Hardt Super Cup and the U10s sixth out of 60 teams at the Sportlife Junior Cup in Verl.

On the first day the U9s finished third in their eight-team group behind Schalke and FC Koln before winning through their second group by beating MSV Duisburg 2-1, drawing with VfB Kirchellen 1-1 and scoring a last-minute winner to beat Fortuna Koln 1-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

There they defeated unbeaten Schalke 1-0 before losing the semis 2-1 to FC Koln and the third/fourth play-off to Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 as they finished above the likes of Southend, Dinamo Kiev, Schalke and Dusseldorf.

Jack Smith was named Town’s player of the tour.

The U10s won their group on the first day and came second in their group on the second day to qualify for the last 16 where nine of the teams represented play in the Champions League and four in the Europa League.

There they drew 0-0 with Schalke as Drew Richardson netted the winning penalty to earn Town a quarter-final tie against Copenhagen that finished 1-1 before the Hatters then lost in the shoot-out.

Luton beat Düsseldorf 2-0 to finish sixth with Corey Panter named their player of the tour.