U16 match report v Birmingham City
Update from coach:
Playing a 343, we knew Birmingham were a strong side.
From the off, they pressed our back line with their No10 finding acres of space.
Despite this, we looked steady enough as a defensive unit, just made to work harder in transition to attack.
Birmingham took the lead after a disputed penalty decision.
We went a further goal behind in the next quarter as substitutions failed to give us the lift expected.
In the second half, after a good team chat, we moved to a 442, and the balance came. We pressed better, weren't second to the ball, but despite our best efforts, 2 penalty claims didn't go our way. They scored a third goal after breaking quickly from one of these claims
We knew it would seem like an uphill task and we fought harder and stole more ball. We scored from a rather simple cross field ball as they failed to see our third man run.
The last 20 minutes, we boxed them in their half. We were rewarded with another goal but that was countered with their fourth as we switch off in midfield, allowing a long shot to loop over Greenslade.
With 5 minutes to go we scored to make it 3-4. We immediately pinned them in their half and from a switch of play our player received the ball in the box and another penalty claim was waved away.
One last effort brought a cracking save from their keeper but in the end, we just could find that final goal.
3-4 final score to Birmingham City
U18 4-4 vs Pontefract
Update from coach: We started bright and hit the crossbar after 2 minutes. We dominated the opening half hour, playing our from the back and controlling the ball. This led to a 2 goal lead, scoring from two set pieces. Pontefract however managed to get back into the game scoring just before half time to make it 2-1. We didn’t start the second half at all and let Pontefract sail into a 4-2 lead. However we managed to regain our composure and as the game went on we created chances again. We scored 2 in the space of five minutes. Then had chances to snatch the game hitting the post just before full time. A game of mixed emotions with being in front, being behind and finally settling for the point U15s won 5-1 v Holbeach United (A) Update from coach: This week our squad depth has been stretched to the maximum with injuries. So with 7 players unavailable, today was always likely to be a difficult fixture. We started ok but our final pass, or decision making in the final third was letting us down. Holbeach scored first against the run of play, but we replied immediately which was important. We were nowhere near our best today, but managed to sneak the lead with an own goal. Going into the last 20 minutes we asked the players to raise their performance. We got the reaction we wanted, scoring 3 more goals and finally started to assert our authority on the game.
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