 |
| Football U11B Team 'Blog' |
|
Match 7 - Wednesday, 13th October - Eagle House v Lambrook LOST 1-7 (Xavier Gordon-Brown penalty) Considering that Lambrook had another eleven boys back at school and therefore the teams were not of comparable ability, the result was realistic. We did not play badly and we did have a couple of chances to score, but in the end Lambrook were simply too good for us. They played as a skilful, fast-moving unit and from the moment they scored the first goal they were in complete control of the match. Of the seven goals Lambrook scored, only the penalty we conceded for handball should not have happened. Indeed, without Sam's fine goalkeeping and Alex's clearance kicks, the deficit could have been far greater. Despite the result we kept our heads up for the entire match and therefore I am pleased that we managed to score a 'consolation' goal, which came from another Xavier penalty. The team: Sam Cookson (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley Will Morrison Edward Scott BBMM Match 6 - Saturday, 9th October - Papplewick v Eagle House DREW 1-1 (Freddie Hindley) This was an entertaining football match with end-to-end excitement. We were the better team in the first half and our two wingers, Xavier and Callum, made some excellent runs. We had many chances to score, but the big and imposing Papplewick goalkeeper - and on one occasion the post - kept us out. In the second half Papplewick played at a higher level and marked our wingers out of the game. Papplewick scored the first goal of the game against the run of play and I, and the assembled ranks of Eagle House parents, feared another defeat was on the cards. However, Freddie had other ideas and scored the equaliser right at the end of the match - his second goal in as many games. Overall a draw was a fair result, especially as we went one goal down, but this was a game we would have won if we had been more clinical with our finishing. After our three heavy defeats we have tried to put our season back on track and we must go all-out to win our final match against Lambrook. The team: Sam Cookson (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley Will Morrison BBMM Match 5 - Saturday, 2nd October - Eagle House IX v St Piran's DREW 1-1 (Freddie Hindley) This was a draw snatched from the clutches of victory! We laid siege to the St Piran's goal for much of the match and I lost count of the number of scoring opportunities we had, only to be denied by our poor finishing or their good goalkeeping. St Piran's had some chances themselves, but Finlay ably kept them out. Eventually Freddie scored a well-deserved goal with two minutes remaining and victory looked ours. However, St Piran's regrouped quickly, ran half the length of the field through our half-hearted tackling and equalised with the last kick of the match. A frustrating result because we were the better team and we deserved to win to put our season back on track. A special mention must go to James, Oliver, Freddie and Frank for each playing one half of the match for St Piran's to make up numbers - an unenviable task in a competitive school match and one they handled well. Our next match is against Papplewick, a school we have not played before at this level. The team: Finlay O'Kane (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley BBMM Match 4 - Wednesday, 29th September - Eagle House v Hall Grove LOST 0-4 Despite the scoreline, this was an encouraging performance against a skilful and physically strong Hall Grove side. When they scored a goal in the first few minutes I feared the worst, but the scoreline remained the same for three quarters of the match thanks to the resolute defending of Will and Alex and many fine saves from Sam. We won quite a lot of possession on the left flank through the determination of Callum, although we were not able to convert this into any realistic scoring opportunities. Unfortunately we began to tire and lose concentration in the last quarter of the match and we conceded three more goals. The better side won on the day, but at least we made a game out of it and overall we should be encouraged by the football we played. The match on Saturday against St Piran's should be much more evenly-balanced - fingers crossed! The team: Sam Cookson (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Will Morrison Edward Scott Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley BBMM Match 3 - Wednesday, 22nd September - Yateley Manor v Eagle House LOST 1-8 (Xavier Gordon-Brown penalty) This was a very disappointing result. In the first half our poor defending and tactical naivete cost us dearly. We conceded a goal within the first minute and then four more goals quickly followed. We hardly ventured outside our territory at all and lost possession at nearly every opportunity. I set the boys three targets in my half-time team talk: to communicate with eachother, to mark the opposition and to pass the ball. With that in mind, the boys played much better football in the second half. We won several corners and had a couple of good chances to score, but the resolute Yateley Manor defending kept us out. Unfortunately we conceded three more goals, but we were also grateful to Sam for making three great saves. Just before the end we won a penalty from a Yateley Manor handball, which Xavier rifled into the net to give us the goal our second half efforts deserved. I really hope we can get back to winning ways against Hall Grove. At the very least we must try not to concede any goals - we have our goal difference to consider! The team: Sam Cookson (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Will Morrison Edward Scott Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley BBMM Match 2 - Saturday, 18th September - Cranleigh v Eagle House LOST 0-5 As I predicted, we faced a skilful and tactically-aware Cranleigh side. In the first half we did not threaten Cranleigh's goal at all and when we did win the ball in midfield we waited too long to pass, rather than build up any momentum. We were thankful to goalkeeper Finlay that we only conceded three goals. In the second half we were playing downhill and Xavier made several runs into the Cranleigh penalty area, but unfortunately we were unable to score. At the other end we conceded two more goals, but at least our defence made Cranleigh work quite hard for them. We were beaten by the better team on the day, but even the Cranleigh coach agreed that we deserved a goal for our efforts. Hopefully we can put this result behind us and we can work hard on the training pitch before we face Yateley Manor on Wednesday. The team: Finlay O'Kane (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Will Morrison Edward Scott Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan BBMM Match 1 - Wednesday, 15th September - Eagle House v Sunningdale WON 3-0 (Kai O'Callaghan, Jamie Gibson, Xavier Gordon-Brown) This was an exciting football match. The first half was played almost entirely in Sunningdale territory and we had several chances to score, before Kai's shot was fumbled by the keeper into his own net. In the second half the game began to open up and we put together some fluid passing moves, which culminated in goals from Jamie and Xavier. Sunningdale ventured into our half a few times, but they never came close to scoring. A great way to start the season. I am pleased that the boys played with a positive spirit and there is definitely a foundation to build upon. However, Cranleigh will prove a much tougher opposition on Saturday and we must be at the top of our game. The team: Sam Cookson (GK) Will Baker Gonzalo Eizaguirre Freddie Hindley James Saunders Alex Bland Oliver Crosby Jamie Gibson (c) Will Morrison Edward Scott Xavier Gordon-Brown Callum McCarthy Kai O'Callaghan Frank Turley BBMM |
