Charlton at the London Soccerdome

I was invited down to the London Soccerdome by a fellow northern Scot to see his son playing for Cambridge United today. His lad is 9 years old and has been with Cambridge, their home town, for a couple of years. He regularly plays against the likes of Arsenal and Spurs as well as Walsall and Barnet, but until today never the mighty Addicks.

In the ten years or so that it's been there, I have never previously set foot in the London Soccerdome (formerly the David Beckham Academy) and I have to profess to thinking it was now closed. Anyhow, it was very much open this morning and I was very impressed with both the scale (two full size artificial pitches), the facilities and the quality of the football I got to see.

The Under 9's and Under 11's were at the Soccerdome whilst the Under 8's, Under 10's and Under 12's were playing at our Academy at Sparrows Lane. Whilst all were welcome at the Soccerdome, I understand visiting parents had to obtain tickets to attend at Sparrows Lane!

I was obviously there to support my mates son and to be encouraging to the other proud parents down from Cambridge but it was impossible for me to remain impartial. I was reminded that scorelines are unimportant at this age and that it's all about touch, positional play and movement. That's as maybe but Cambridge were beaten 3-2, 5-2, 6-2 and managed a 5-5 in the other game. It was really good to see some of these kids. Two-footed, quick, comfortable on the ball and real team players. They played to the whistle, didn't appeal decisions and were courteous to their opponents.

I have checked the programme since getting home but nothing below U17's registers. There were no team sheets available and I didn't get all the names but Jeremy and Richard were two I did hear and they were superb.