Having survived a late pitch inspection, Crostyx Under-10 girls took to the field and unfortunately lost 2-1 to a strong and well organised Hertford side.

Crostyx looked nervous and despite having the right ideas they were quickly behind to a Hertford goal.

Stung into action, Jasmine Wadsworth and Emily Green battled hard in midfield winning the ball that allowed Imogen Murphy to break through the visitors defence before Helen Standring clinically finished drawing level.

With courageous tackling from Lottie Gillett, Isobel Troni and Kiera Murphy, Crostyx looked to be holding on for a draw before an unlucky deflection sent the ball to an unmarked Hertford forward who snatched victory.

Crostyx then turned things around in the next game against Waltham Forest, winning 6-0.

From the first whistle the Crostyx team worked hard with Gillett and Wadsworth in midfield stopping Forest from gaining any momentum.

Kiera Murphy and Imogen Murphy switched the ball from side to side before Standring split the defensive with a burst of pace to put the home side one up.

Forest tried to raise their game and despite some nice passing found themselves repeatedly on the back foot with Green taking possession and putting Crostyx in the ascendancy.

Standring broke free twice more and buried the ball each time to put Crostyx 3-0 up and gain a hat-trick.

Some great work from Isobel Murphy put Standring in for her fourth. Crostyx were relentless and prevented Forest from gaining a foothold in the match.

The irrepressible Standring tore the away side’s defence apart and scored her fifth and sixth goals. Standring’s fine individual haul really capped an excellent team performance.

The Under-10 boys got off to a steady start drawing their first match 0-0 against Hertford.

Having never played each other before, the first couple of minutes saw each side tentatively testing each other’s resilience as the game swung back and forward.

With Hamza Shaikh making probing runs from the left wing and Alex Doyle supporting on the right, it wasn't long before Crostyx started putting more and more pressure on the opposition.

Hertford remained stalwart in defence and frustrated the home side’s attacks.

Hertford then got the upper hand and tested the Crostyx defence only to see Robert Moncur and Charlie Britt make some strong tackles to see the game through to the end.

Crostyx had one more game to play against Waltham Forest and it ended in a 1-0 victory for the home side.

With a change in organisation, Shaikh shored up the defence with Owen Chance stepping up to play an attacking role. Captain James Preston, resumed his role in midfield. 

It wasn't long before the new personnel were causing the visitors all kinds of problems.

A mazy solo run saw Chance go through Forest’s defence like a hot knife through butter, to calmly slot the ball home past their spectating goalkeeper.

The last play of the game saw another piece of individual skill by Preston to smash the ball across Forest’s goal towards Chance who narrowly missed at the far post.

The Under-12 girls were able to start their day with victory over Waltham Forest 3-0.

They started the match well and from the first whistle the girls dominated the game, putting the Forest defence under constant pressure.

There was some fantastic passes between Lara Chick and Lucy Leel down the right wing of the pitch, which completely foxed the opposition, leading to the first goal that was crossed to May Martindale on the left post to slot past the keeper.

Safia Shaikh, had a fantastic game working tirelessly to push through the Waltham Forest midfield and defensive lines to help create the second goal for Leel. The third goal then came from some great defensive work between Frances Burnell, Clara Johnson and Phoebe Wu from the half way line, to find Shaikh unmarked who slotted the ball home.

Crostyx, however, lost their next game to Witham 2-1. Klara Pert, Siena Crossley, Ruby James and Wu worked hard at the back making some good strong tackles.

However, Witham kept pushing through and with no keeper; they were able to plough through the last line of defence.

Crostyx immediately bounced back and created some good passing play, Chick worked hard to win the ball in the middle of the field and found Leel available who worked the ball past the Witham keeper drawing the score level.

Witham, although, refused to give up and managed to break through to score again.

In their final game, they took on Hertford but could only draw 1-1 after such a fine start to the day.

The away side were a very well drilled team and showed their composure and strength on the ball with some good link up play through the middle of the field.

Crostyx were undeterred and with some tactical positional changes were able to counter the Hertford team.

The visitors managed to score the first goal, however, Crostyx were determined to show their passion and battled on.

Leel was able slot the ball past the keeper to make it 1-1 for the home side and game then petered out as a draw.

Crostyx Under-12 boys started well with a big 4-0 win over local rivals Waltham Forest.

They started strongly and put the visitors under pressure from the off. Finn Robinson and Francesco Monti up front, and Freddie Britt at centre, dominated the early exchanges, turning over possession at will and attacking with pace.

On a number of occasions Britt found space in the opposition area before choosing to draw the goalkeeper and slip passes to either Robinson or Monti.

The away side couldn't hold out for long though and Britt deftly played in Monti, who in turn found Robinson. 

He picked up the measured pass and cut inside the nearest defender to set up a quick fire shot to the bottom corner, leaving the goalkeeper stranded.

The visitors had a few drives up the Crostyx wing but these were calmly dealt with by Liam Dolden and Jed Martindale.

There was no let up in the Crostyx attack as Nathan Moscow and Richard Buckley entered the fray, taking over from Robinson and Monti.

They quickly upped the pressure again leading to a well finished team goal where the front three combined to score the third and fourth goals.

Crostyx then came unstuck in their second match against Hertford where they lost 2-0. The visitors quickly established a few well built attacks, using the space intelligently and finding any unmarked players to maximum effect.

Crostyx had not previously faced a team of this calibre and responded with flair and pride, determined to take the game to the away side.

Harry Goddard in the Crostyx goal raced out to make a first-rate clearance.

The attacks came thick and fast though and the newly reinstated short corners were first won by the visitors.

The set piece strike was saved by Max Wadsworth on the post but the Hertford forward somehow managed to scramble the ball home to open the scoring.

The home side mounted several attacks in reply but again were unable to soak up the pressure of the opposition attacks.

Eventually, a well-hit shot from the top of the D into the bottom left corner made it 2-0.

Crostyx determined to change their fortunes came out fighting in their last game to beat Witham 4-0.

Monti got onto Martindale’s perfectly placed line-ball and linked with Britt for a one-two exchange of passes but the Witham defence mopped up.

Monti then opened the scoring, getting on the end of Britt's interception from a Witham free hit. Wadsworth stepped in front of his man every time to win the ball, frustrating the opposition winger.

Killian Flynn’s control and distribution was excellent, allowing Crostyx to mount a number of counter-attacks from his well chosen passes.

Up front, Buckley's vision off the ball to find space led to a well-weighted pass from Flynn. Buckley fired a low, hard shot leaving the goalkeeper with no chance of saving it.

Moscow made it three with a deflection from Britt's cross before adding a brilliant fourth goal.