Thanks to Coach Chris for the detailed report (short novel) - a second career in journalism awaits....
After a narrow defeat against a good Princess Villa side the week before, the team were keen to return to winning ways. Unfortunately, on another rainy morning in Saughall it was not to be the case. In fairness we were lucky to be playing at all, the Saughall pitches had been unplayable for weeks and the pitch was under attack from a grass eating grub of some sort.
The game was very close
throughout and the teams were well matched – great game to watch !!
Waverton took the early lead. James had initially made a great run down the right-hand touchline before being dispossessed while trying to cut inside. James did not give up the fight however and was on hand to pounce when the ball broke for him inside the box – teeing himself up with the outside of the right foot past the defender before putting his laces through the ball (textbook finish).
We were looking solid all over the park, with Isaac in particular doing a great job of marking their centre forward pretty much out of the quarter (I think he actually quite enjoys that position). Everyone was putting lots of effort in and as we (well I did anyway) begin to ponder the possibilities of knocking 2 or 3 past Saughall for no reply, we immediately conceded off the restart – very frustrating, however a well taken goal by Saughall.
Level at the break, Saughall upped their intensity, and began an aerial assault on our penalty area. Route One had clearly been the message from the bench and it worked – Saughall were 3-1 up. Had it not been for a couple of good saves by Thomas, including one destined for the roof of the net (I even heard their coach say – great goal, before Thomas parried it away for a corner), it could have been a lot worse. At the other end, Saughall’s defence was holding tight, before James went on another run down the right beating his man to reach the by-line and rather than shooting himself, looked up and passed the ball across goal, splitting the defender and keeper for Pablo to tap into (It is all about being in the right place at the right time).
HT: 3-2
Going into the 3rd quarter, all was to play for. We were only 1 goal down and still very much in the game. Ben was making some good saves in goal and Henry was sticking to his striker at the back. That said, Saughall’s pressure paid off mid-way through the quarter and they had doubled their lead. The boys heads did not go down and the Bees dug deep and exerted pressure of their own resulting in a goal by Oliver (first of the season) with the outside of his foot into the bottom corner. Pablo then hit the post directly from a corner and Isaac was really unlucky not to score on the back post having got himself into a great position. Meanwhile, another Saughall attack had rewarded them with another goal, an unlocky deflection off Henry.
Being 2 goals down, you could have thought the game over, but as we are learning about the Bees, they don’t give up without a fight... After going another goal down (6-3 to Saughall), they worked their socks off and made every tackle count before running at the Saughall defence and interchanging passes between themselves – Oliver on the left, Ben in the middle and Henry on the right. They were playing the ball to feet, into space, in behind the defenders and were duly rewarded when Ben beat 2 players before getting his shot off early and firing home Waverton’s 4th. This was shortly followed by another goal by Oliver striking the ball first time into the roof of the net, following a poor corner clearance by Saughall. Henry was finding space down the right and was unlucky not score himself on a couple of occasions.
With George and Pablo keeping things tight at the back, we really thought we were going to get that illusive equaliser… sadly not!
FT: 6-5
Man of the Match goes to James for his hard work in all areas of the pitch, some clever dribbling, scoring a great goal and his team awareness when passing to Pablo for his goal.
In addition, I have to say how impressed I was with all the boys’ resilience, desire and effort during the game, everyone worked really hard for one and other and there were moments of brilliance (both individual and collective). I was particularly pleased with the way players are now thinking about what they are going to do with the ball before they get it; how they now look up for each other to pass to, as well as knowing what they need to do when they don’t have the ball – Mark-up.
Really promising stuff on display !!
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