Impressive Luton Town kids prove the toast of Belgium

Luton Town U11-12 youngsters who finished as runners-up

The event played host to many professional Belgium clubs, including European giants RFC Liege, RE Virton, RCS Vise and RCS Verviers as well as English clubs Cambridge United and Southend United.

The Hatters made the finals in all three competitions, winning the U10/11 section and finishing runners-up in both the combined U12/13 and U14/15 age groups.

Luton’s U10/11 A-team winners were drawn in a qualifying group that included Cambridge, who they beat 3-0, and followed this up with a 1-0 defeat of CS Odeigne, before beating DC Cointe 6-1.

A 1-0 loss in their last qualifying game against REFC Wegnez meant they finished second in their group and set up an all-Luton semi-final against Town’s B team who had won all three of their group games, including a 1-0 victory against Southend.

Goals from Ravjeer Samra, Tyler Martin, Jayden Courtney and Jaden Griffiths led to a 4-0 victory for the A team who then beat Dutch side HFC Koninklijke 4-0 thanks to a goal from Griffiths and Martin’s hat-trick.

Coach Matthew Collett said: “They showed fantastic commitment and determination, especially when reaching the knockout stages of the competition.”

HFC Koninklijke had narrowly defeated the Hatters C squad in the semi-finals 3-2, which meant the club also took third and fourth places.

The U12/13 side defeated Cambridge 1-0 in the qualifiers and Southend 3-0 in the semis, before losing 2-1 to RCS Verviers in the final.

The U14/15 squad won all their games, before losing 1-0 to RCS Verviers in the final.

Coach Russell Preston said: “Our two early victories in the qualifying group on day one set the boys up for the later knockout stages and, although losing by the odd goal in a final is disappointing, the best team won on the day.

“But the real plus for us were the individual displays from some of the boys, including midfielder William Coote and keeper Mitchell Howe who only conceded one goal and that was in the final.”

In the non-competitive U8/9 tournament, Town’s youngsters won all seven of their games to finish with a 100 per cent record.

Coach Scott Smith added: “Having won all of our scheduled games in the tournament we had a queue with all of the other teams competing coming over to ask for games - the boys made a big impression locally and we were pleased with the manner in which they won all of their games, particularly against RCS Liege and Cambridge United.”