25 Apr 21
Stanway Villa Yellows U9s 1 Vs 3 Rowhedge Juniors FC ?U9s
A windy (much cooler) day saw us hosted by Stanway Villa this weekend. Again, another club with a really good setup and excellent playing conditions; it was nice to be back on a ‘normal size’ pitch.
The boys knew this was going to be a tough game, Stanway Villa Yellows were on a good running streak having won their previous 10 games. We needed a good strong start to impose ourselves; unfortunately Villa started the stronger and pressed our defence from the off. 2 minutes in, having pressed down the right hand-side, we were unable to clear the ball and a cross took a wicked deflection and flew into the top left hand corner of our goal - game on!
After 12 minutes a couple of tactical changes were made; being the first time playing one another it took 10 mins to work out their tactics. We needed to press their defence more vigorously and needed to steady our defence. Again, at the time, fortune was against us and the Referee awarded a harsh pen. Thankfully Logan was there for the save and a good clearance from Will kept the boys in the game. A further 3 strong attempts from Villa were made but all equally met by Logan to deny Villa.
With the nerves settled we finally managed to impose ourselves. Having won another corner Thomas whipped in an excellent cross and Alfie was on the end to bring us level at 24 mins. 5 minutes later, on the counter, Jacob played a through ball to Jeff for him to put Rowhedge in front just before half time.
With the wind on our side another change was made to try and play to our strengths. Will (Captain) was on ?? and with the change it allowed him the freedom to express himself further. His breaking runs down the right really did change the game. Villa resorted to ‘route one’ football and PJ continued to deny. Just before halfway into the second half some more changes were made to keep the tempo high. Villa were really strong on the ball and very quick but 43 minutes had passed and our tempo of shifting the ball was fatiguing them (plus they were unaware of the GTC over Easter holidays - fitness plays into our hands! ??).
50 minutes in, some great trickery down the left from Frankie saw an excellent assist and Jeff putting the game to bed. With 9 minutes left we made our final changes. Villa pushed hard with a number of consecutive corners, but our defence remained strong.
A really good performance from the boys today showing character to come back and win. Today we saw a really physical game from both teams - lots of strong honest tackles and individual brilliance. The young referee had a really good game today and did a good job managing the game.
If it were not for the phenomenal performance from Will today Logan would have been player of the match. Logan was excellent and must be given credit for keeping the boys in the game.
Manager’s player of the match: Will - superb ????; another performance like that please as we have a tough tough game next week.
That’s 13 games on the trot and 18 in 20...
