The 4th annual Foxes Trust 5 a side tournament today saw former winners the Brown Stripes regain their crown after losing out in the semi finals on penalties last year to the eventual winners the Huncote Sports & Social Club who didn’t defend their trophy.
10 teams took part this year, disappointingly the lowest number of competitors since the tournament was launched, however it is estimated around £400 was raised for the Radio Leicester Ruby Rainbows Appeal.
With the reduced number, the format was changed with 2 groups of 5 teams, so all teams involved played a minimum of 4 games, and the day saw a mixture of hard fought draws, outright thumpings and teams either cracking or raising their games as they faced the final group matches to qualify for the finals.
A look at the group stages…..
Group One proved to be a tightly fought group, with eventual finalists Denis Moran and Ashby Kidz kicking off with a 1-1 draw, Knighton Plumbing then set the standard with a sound 4-0 victory over the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s.
The next set of games saw Denis Moran pick up a 2-0 victory over Norks FC in their first appearance, Ashby Kidz started to be the 1-1 specialists, this time against Knighton Plumbing and the next game saw a battle of the LCFC fans message boards, with Foxestalk (Yeah Yeah’s) claiming a 2-1 win over Talking Balls (Norks).
Another draw, this time 0-0 between Knighton Plumbing and Denis Moran was not a sign of things to come, as suddenly the goals started flying in with a 5-1 victory for Ashby Kidz against the Yeah Yeah’s. Norks FC again failed to gain a point with a 4-0 loss against Knighton Plumbing who at that point topped the group with their games completed having 8 points and a +8 goal difference.
So the pressure was on as both Denis Moran and Ashby Kidz now needed to win games by sizeable margins to ensure qualification to the semis. First Denis Moran knew the needed goals, and they certainly got them, with a 10-0 victory over Yeah Yeah’s, and so a +12 goal difference. This left Ashby Kidz needing to win by 5 clear goals and that’s exactly what they did with a 6-1 victory over Norks FC (who completed a Eurovision style Nil Points performance).
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | Diff +/- | Points | |
| 1 | FC Denis Moran | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 8 |
| 2 | Ashby Kidz | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 8 |
| 3 | Knighton Plumbing | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 8 |
| 4 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 20 | -17 | 3 |
| 5 | Norks FC | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | -12 | 0 |
A look at Group 2 and the finals will appear soon