 |
| Football 3rd XI Team 'Blog' |
|
Thirds Denied! Match 1 vs. Sunningdale Result: Eagle House 0 - 1 Sunningdale The first match of the season, led by Robin Vonchek, was away at Sunningdale. The start, however, was not so sunny. After one minute a through ball, which was a close call to offside, found the Sunningdale attack and they took an early lead. After a disappointing start the Eagles rallied well and put tremendous pressure on Sunningdale for the rest of the half even when reduced to ten men due to injuries. The second half was all Eagles, with tremendous work by Max Hammond, Man of the Match, brilliant touches from Oscar Turton, some stern defence from Robin and Henry (Hal) Quinn and solid displays from Morgan Edwards and Michael Gimson. Five chances went begging and the Sunningdale defence held out. With a fully fit team, bolstered by absences, the rest of the season does indeed look rather sunny. Man of the Match: Max Hammond Match 2 vs. Cranleigh Prep Result: Eagle House 0 - 5 Cranleigh Prep With three enforced changes The Eagles needed some time to settle into the match. However, Cranleigh very quickly asserted their dominance with two quick goals in the first half. Benjamin Confortola, Henry (Hal) Quinn, Thomas Gray and Robin Vonchek had to work really hard in defence to keep the score down till half time. The second half started better. The Eagles worked hard with stirling efforts from Max Hammond and Morgan Edwards, but had very few chances. A penalty awarded to Cranleigh was well saved by Man of the Match Ben. Towards the end of the Cranleigh showed more energy and scored three goals in the last five minutes. With the next match against Hall Grove in 11 days, there is a chance for The Eagles to regroup and focus on the positives from today’s match. Man of the Match: Ben Confortola Match 3 vs. Hall Grove Result: Eagle House 1 - 3 Hall Grove (Scorer: Lewis Riddell) The Thirds started in good style. With a full strength team Eagles showed tremendous energy and commitment during the first twenty minutes. This resulted in an early goal, taken well by Lewis Riddell on his debut for the team. However Hall Grove struck back after some back luck for the Eagles; a tough challenge resulted in Edward Joslin needing to be taken off and, whilst down to ten men and not getting organized, Hall Grove took advantage to equalize. Whilst unfortunate, The Eagles dominated for the rest of the half with good work by Oscar (Ozzy) Turton and Lewis upfront, supported well by the wingers Noah Walton and Ross Yates. The start of the second half carried on much as the first until Hall Grove took the lead through some good work by their forwards. Another open goal beckoned for the Eagles with Ross just skimming the post. Hall Grove then extended their lead and, whilst the Eagles were unlucky not to be awarded a goal in the last five minutes (problems of not having goal line technology), Hall Grove did end the game stronger. The Eagles should not be disheartened. There were some tremendous performances with Hamid Lawal, Man of the Match, and Robert Phillips, showing excellent commitment and levels of energy. With improved levels of fitness and more opportunity to develop as a team, the boys will soon turn the corner. Man of the Match: Hamid Lawal
Turton secures a deserved victory Match 5 vs. Papplewick Result: Eagle House 3 - 2 Papplewick (Edward Joslin ,9, Max Hammond, 20, Oscar Turton, 39) This was the first match that Eagle House fielded the same team, and it showed. Against the older boys of Papplewick, Eagle House dominated from the start with much improved passing, movement and tackling. Within the first five minutes both Oscar Turton and Lewis Riddell had good chances. The early pressure lead to a corner to the Eagles. An excellent delivery from Lewis was followed by an even better finish from Edward Joslin in which the keeper had no chance. 1-0! Lewis continued his fine form with a couple of long ranged shots which put Papplewick's keeper under pressure. Max Hammond then surprised Papplewick's keeper with an excellent long ranged shot outside the penalty area. 2-0! A couple of minutes before half time the Eagles defence hesitated and this allowed Papplewick to pull a goal back. 2-1. The second half again was all Eagles. An excellent move between Lewis and Oscar resulted in the ball just skimming the bar. Another good move from the Eagles lead to Ross Yates's excellent shot just skimming past the post. However, as in every good football match, there are twists and turns and today was no exception. A long ball from Papplewick's defence was found by their striker who, although possibly being marginally offside, finished excellently. 2-2. This had coach and parents sweating! However, the Eagles showed some real grit. Excellent tackling from Hamid Lawal, Max and Ed meant that we kept up the pressure. After 39 minutes a good ball from Noah Walton found Oscar and, showing his Ossy Ardiles tricks, was brought down. Penalty! Ossy coolly dispatched the penalty even after having to do a retake. 3-2! The last five minutes of the match was all Eagles and they deserved to hold on to a famous victory. Man of the Match: Max Hammond Match 6 vs. Lambrook
Result: Eagle House 0 - Lambrook 2
The visit to Lambrook marked the last match of the season for the Eagles. Against a competent Lambrook side, the Eagles managed to compete well with some excellent tackling from Ross Yates, Hamid Lawal and Henry Quinn, tremendous energy from Max Hammond and some good touches from Max Baldwin. The Eagles applied lots of early pressure. After 6 minutes a good combination from Max Baldwin and Lewis Riddell resulted in an early opportunity for the Eagles. One minute later some excellent defending from Thomas Gray thwarted a Lambrook move. However, after 8 minutes, Lambrook opened the scoring. The Eagles had to ride more Lambrook pressure for the next five minutes. After 15 minutes Max Baldwin was clean on goal and was unlucky not to have made the keeper work harder. Five minutes later a penalty was awarded to the Eagles. Although the penalty was not converted the Eagles ended the stronger team with an excellent Austin Larsson shot and a number of corners. Our hopes were high for the start of the second half. Edward Joslin was pushed up front to partner Lewis. Calamity struck shortly after five minutes when the Eagles gifted a goal to Lambrook. Further pressure from Lambrook resulted into an excellent save from Benjamin Confortola. The coach was worried at this point but, with ten minutes to go, decided to play Edward, Lewis and Max Baldwin up front. This inspired move lead to a late resurgence from the Eagles with a good shot from Hamid after 20 minutes and further chances for Max Baldwin and Edward. Although the Eagles did not win they certainly did themselves proud. Man of the Match:
|
