U14A Match Reports 2008-09

Woodley Saints 1 - 6 Binfield A 20th Sept 08 U14s League

Another lovely autumn morning with a recently mown pitch, 100 yards x 48 yards.

The game started with Binfield wasting no time in getting on the attack and Michael going close with a good shot well saved by the Woodley keeper in the first few minutes. Woodley pressed forward themselves forcing a corner that was delivered beautifully to the back post and headed home by their tall centre forward to take an early lead.

Binfield continued to attack with great determination, and several early efforts went close. Woodley defended well but conceded a free kick on the edge of the area and Mark stepped up to slot the ball into the left corner giving the goalie no chance on 12 minutes.

Woodley continued to push forward and there was some tight midfield play with more Binfield shots going close before TC closed in from the left side to hit home the second for Binfield on 28 minutes. Further pressure released TC again on the left and he hit a fantastic shot across the keeper into the top corner just before half-time.

Half-time 1-3

The Binfield attacks continued right from the start with Jack making a skilful run from the halfway line, showing a great turn of speed and cool finish, only to be ruled offside, even though it was a ball he hit up the line himself, these things happen. More Binfield chances and near misses continued before Lordy worked his way through to blast a shot in, partially blocked by the keeper, but the power made the ball cross the line, sportingly given by the Woodley lino.

More pressure forced a free-kick just inside the Woodley half, Jacob stepped up and hit a tremendous ball into the edge of the 6 yard area where Sam's back-headed flick gave the goalie no chance. The scoring finished at the end of the game when Sam broke through on the right and 1 v 1 with the goalie unselfishly squared the ball to TC who duly completed his hat-trick.

Woodley had some good chances and forced some excellent saves from Joel, as well as keeping him on his toes as a "sweeper keeper", clearing the ball perfectly when it counted. There were many great performances right through the team, so many chances for so many players, they are too many to mention, but the same as last week, I was really impressed by the determination and drive that the team showed right to the end. It was also very pleasing to see players at the side of a congested penalty area setting up team-mates on the edge of the area for shots, definitely keep that up.

Man of the Match

This week Jack gets the award, he embodies the spirit of the team; always chasing the ball, tackling with determination and popping up all over the field helping the team and he always has a great attitude even when his brilliant solo effort was disallowed for an erroneous offside, he just shrugged it off and got on with the game the way a professional should, (and I could name a good couple of dozen Premiership players who could benefit from following his example). It's great to see him enjoying the games so much. Well done and keep it up.

As with last week there were many players who's performances were candidates for Man of the Match, it was a great team effort and it was the team working so hard and well together that made so many scoring opportunities giving the outstanding Woodley keeper the workout of his life.

Things to improve on

The defence looked a bit sloppy at times with balls bouncing over some heads. You need to judge the ball to either get to it before it bounces, ideally, or, failing that, drop back to get it the ball after the bounce. Get in line with the ball and don't be afraid to jump.

A few through balls were over-hit and could have been weighted a bit better.

Possibly these criticisms are a bit harsh as it was a bit of a skiddy, hard surface, with a highly inflated match ball and a relatively small pitch, but you need to be able to adapt to any conditions quickly, which is one of the purposes of the warm-up.

Communication again could be better, you will notice Joel does this well, most others need to work on it, it can be invaluable to the team.

Team: Joel, Jacob, Ed, Oliver, Alex, Jack, Lordy, Sam, Nathan, Dev, Michael, Aaron, TC, Matthew and Mark.