Ballinamallard United under 15s got up close to the rich and famous on Saturday in an exciting pre-season trip to England at the week-end.

The party of 18 players played two games, the highlight of which was a creditable performance against Manchester City under 15s at the club Academy’s Etihad Campus.

The young Mallards lost 3-1, with Sam Robb scoring their goal, but they played some great football and competed well throughout.

The four-day trip, however, was an experience of life on and off the pitch for the group.

The match on Saturday was in the middle of a morning of contrasts. The group had stayed overnight at the Peace Centre in Warrington, where they were expected to make their own beds and clear up their breakfast dishes; and after a short journey to the Etihad, they saw the other scale of life in a tour of the £200million Academy building. It was the height of footballing luxury, just across the road from the main Etihad stadium, with a range of pitches, training facilities, meeting theatres, gyms and restaurants.

After changing for their match, the boys walked out to the pitch, passing the City first team undertaking a training session in preparation for their game the next day at Everton.

Under the watchful eye of Pellegrini, the City players were going through their paces with the man-mountain Vincent Kompany, striker Aguero and the rest a few yards away from the Ballinamallard players. In a nice touch, keeper Joe Hart waved over at the Fermanagh lads.

The boys then played their game on an unusual surface of blue 4G, and they rose to the occasion after a nervous start.

On Saturday afternoon, the Mallards attended the English championship game at Bolton, where Neil Lennon’s Wanderers scored in injury time to gain a 1-1 draw with Notts Forest.

On the Sunday morning, the Fermanagh boys were again up bright and early to travel to Chester to play Blacon Youth’s under 16. Despite the Chester outfit being an older age group and physically much bigger, and indeed despite tiredness and a few knocks from the previous morning, Mallards started brightly and played some good passing football.

Sam Robb gave them a deserved lead with a well taken effort from outside the box.

By half-time, however, Blacon had equalised and gone 2-1 up and secured victory with another in the second half to make it 3-1.

Coaches Denzil McDaniel, Jackie Palmer and Keith Malone were delighted, however, with the performance and the experience gleaned from both games.

On Sunday afternoon, the party, which also included adults Trevor Corrigan, Ian Robb, Robert Moutray and Roy Woods, headed for Goodison Park to enjoy Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Everton.

In the evenings and in downtime, the whole party enjoyed some socialising, and on the return journey home on Monday they stopped off at the massive Cheshire Oaks shopping centre outside Chester.

While it was first and foremost a footballing experience for the boys, there was an opportunity for friendship and social interaction between the players in an experience they will never forget.