![The undefeated U13 Southern Branch side kept their streak alive with a 2-1 win over the Sutherland Shire on Sunday. Picture supplied. The undefeated U13 Southern Branch side kept their streak alive with a 2-1 win over the Sutherland Shire on Sunday. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/157749079/196363c6-67f5-44ca-b222-f3887ad9a89f.jpg/r0_60_640_420_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The U13s Southern Branch boys have seen nothing but resounding success this season, putting 13 wins on the board without dropping a single game on the season.
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The side couldn't have asked for a better start, with the team's coach Andrew Timbs crediting the camaraderie of the group as a major factor in their success.
Timbs has been coaching the same group of players for the past five seasons and said the growth he has seen from each of those players in that time has been immense.
"I'm very happy, just seeing them develop individually and as a squad is pretty impressive," he said.
"They've got a great morale between the group, a lot of them are friends through school, they really work together and work for one another."
The Southern Branch side has dominated their opponents in almost all their games this season, looking a class above their competition.
Their biggest wins came in an 11-0 thrashing of last place Nepean and a 11-1 beatdown of fifth place North West Sydney.
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While these wins were impressive, they aren't the ones that most impressed coach Timbs.
Heading into the season, he said that he and the team viewed third place Manly Warringah as the benchmark of the competition.
In their first clash with the side, they exploded out of the gates to secure a 3-0 lead, however Manly fought back to knot the game at 3-3.
Southern Branch overcame the resilient comeback of their opposition as they pocketed a goal in the final minute to seal the victory.
The next time they versed one another, Branch looked entirely focused and ready, controlling every aspect of the field on route to a 2-0 win.
"I was very impressed the second time we played them and the urgency I directed at them before we took the pitch," Timbs said.
"We won 2-0, but we dominated the game, they had chances and we missed a couple, but we were ready for them."
"We were definitely a lot more disciplined in the second match, that's where we leaked our three goals last time, we took our foot of the gas, but the second time we stayed strong to our structure."
The U13s side is a very well balanced team, with strong players in every position, along with being incredibly versatile according to Timbs.
He further elaborated that while every player has their set individual roles, they each posses skillsets that allows them to fill in any gap that is needed.
"If we come across a niggling injury in one of the guys we can replace him with an almost equally skilled player to fill that spot," he said.
"Across the squad we are very well balanced and have cover at every position, it's pretty impressive."
The team's most recent clash took place on Sunday against second place Sutherland Shire at South Nowra Football Complex, in what was a back and forth game, Branch were able to pull off the 2-1 win and keep their streak alive.