U12 Blues beaten by some good finishing

Posted in U12 Blue News ... March 15th, 2010

On Saturday we played the team in 3rd place, Kennett Valley. We knew this would be another tough game against a side in good form lately. The game was very even with little goalmouth action, and only separated by some expert finishing from Kennett Valley and one poor defensive clearance by us. The 4-0 scoreline certainly flattered them. The game started with us on the offensive and we were rewarded with our first corner after 4 minutes, but they cleared easily. Their first attack came in the 7th minute which ended with a goal kick to us – Ollie shepherding the ball out of play well. In the 10th minute some good work from Jack W, who fed a lovely ball through to James H, but he was just offside when clean through on goal. In the 12th minute a cross from their right was miskicked by us, and it went across the goal for an easy tap-in at the far post for their striker. A spell of pressure from them resulted in a corner from a good Jack E clearance. The rest of the half was dominated by the midfield with Charlie C breaking up lots of their attacking play. When they did get past the midfield Ollie P was clearing up, and having a good game at left back. At half-time and only 1-0 down we had every chance to get a result out of this game. However, in the second half they produced some much better attacking play and were stronger amd more determined to win the game than us. We started well and had two corners in the first 3 minutes, both cleared by their defence. In the 6th and 7th minute they had two quick corners in succession from two great covering tackles from Charlie C. However, from the second of those corners the ball came over and was kneed in at the near post by a forward who was not picked up. The only two moments of any note for the rest of the game were two expertly taken goals. The first was a run down the left from the half way line and then a right foot finish in the far corner from the edge of the area giving JC no chance. The 4th and final goal came in the 22nd minute and was a run down the right from their centre forward, who outpaced our defence and hit a great shot from the edge of the box into the top corner, again giving JC no chance. We battled hard for the rest of the half but could not get any attacking play flowing, not enough support to the front player when we had the ball. Charlie C just pipped Ollie P to the man of the match award for his tireless performance in midfield, producing some excellent tackles and headers away. Four games left, and we must try and get a couple of wins to move off the bottom of the table.