FELICITATIONS RHYL ACADEMY!

By Dave Jones on Apr 9, 10 06:29 PM

ALL hail the Rhyl Academy football squad who have just returned from winning an international tournament in France.
Clubs from Holland, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Wales' only entrant - sunny Rhyl - competed at the prestigious event in Hazebrouck.
In their opening group game, the Rhyl Under-14s drew 0-0 with USM Marly and followed up with a 1-1 draw against St Omer, Ben Maher netting from the penalty spot.
Maher then notched a hat-trick in Rhyl's 8-0 hammering of RUS Beloeil of Belguim in the final group game, Sam Lee (2), Gaz Royles, Chris Marsden and Jordan Bellham sharing the rest.
The situation going into that last game of the group stages was to progress Rhyl had to win by more than four goals and hope that USM Marly and US St Omer drew.
The French teams shared a 0-0 split and Rhyl did the necessary with their eight-goal success so went on to play Gillingham FC in the semi-final.
In a tight encounter Bellham's last minute goal sealed a 1-0 victory to take the North Walians into the final.
Just before the final there was a massive parade and national anthems for both finalists with a crowd of around 500 in attendance.
In the final Rhyl took on hosts SC Hazebrouck, but despite dominating the game, with Maher striking the bar from 25 yards in the second half, the match ended 0-0.
So it was down to penalties and Rhyl's heroic keeper Robbie Rimmington saved two. Marsden and Bellham scored, and Jordan Frazer put away the winning spot-kick to seal the tournament for Rhyl. Cue the celebrations!
Rhyl came away with trophies for group winners, best defence, the two best coaches and two overall first place winners.
Coaches Lee Jones, Graham Duffield and Jonathan Evans were very proud of their players. They worked extremely hard in every game and stuck to the game plan.
"This is a massive achievement for Rhyl Academy - and we hope to go back next year and retain the title," commented a proud Jones.

Squad: Robbie Rimmington, Christian Wright, Josh Parry, Jordan Bellham, Jordan Frazer, Liam Truesdale, Luke Astley (captain) Chris Roberts, Ben Maher, Joel Roberts, Gaz Royles, Chris Marsden, Sam Lee, Connah Atkinson.