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| Football Under 9 Team 'Blog' |
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UNDER 9As MATCH 1: 14.30 Wednesday 24th September 2008. Yateley Manor 7 v 1 Eagle House School Goal: Henry South Team Selected: Sam Cookson, Ben Howard, Jack Surrall, Ishaan Haikerwal, Alex McClelland, Harry Waters, Ruairidh Whelan, James Gibson, Henry South. This will be a slightly shorter report than normal, as none of us want to dwell on this rather unrepresentative result. 7-1 is technically referred to as a ‘hammering’ in football parlance; however the Junior Eagles played brilliantly at times and matched their opponents for possession through-out the entire game. The key difference was in long distance finishing and use of the space – Yateley Manor were able to blast the ball from distance and poach any rebounds. They were also much better at exploiting the space behind the Eagle House defenders. If fairness to the Junior Eagles, none had played on a pitch this size before (which stretched the maximum size specified for seven-a-side games). Despite this, the Junior Eagles used their close passing and excellent team interplay to control much of the game, unfortunately a lot of this was in the middle of the park and they were unable to really threaten the Yateley goal. In contrast, Yateley did not have anywhere near the same control of the game in midfield, but when they broke they did so quickly and with good vision and skill. A mixup in defence led to the first goal and further defensive errors in the midfield allowed Yateley to walk through for their second and third before half time. A change of pace and personnel in the second half saw Henry South grab a well-taken goal back and it looked as if the Junior Eagles would get back into the game. However, two goals in a minute effectively killed off the fight back and, although the Junior Eagles were in control of the game, every break-away attack by Yateley looked dangerous and they scored a two more in the dying minutes. All in all, Yateley clearly had the finishing power and build-up play to win this game, however the score-line is extremely flattering to them and a freak result for the Junior Eagles. One really great thing that we can take from the game, alongside a few hard but valuable lessons learnt, was that after the game the whole team were very positive about what they did well and how they can progress together as a team. U/9B football match vs Yateley Manor. Wednesday 24th September 2008 Lost 0 - 6 Team: Finlay O’Kane Alex Bland Callum McCarthy Joseph Britz Daniel Salter Frederick Hindley Daniel Orechoff Joseph Spurway-Ash We were looking forward to this game, as we had put in a lot of hard work into our training sessions in preparation. We had looked at passing and moving into space to receive the ball as well as marking our men from corners and throw ins. Unfortunately we came up against an extremely talented Yateley side, all of whom played club football. The game started well for us with the Eagle House boys moving the ball around nicely. Alex Bland, who has got better with every game, was having a great game at right-back, as was Daniel Orechoff and Daniel Salter, who were dealing with the Yateley attacks with ease. Joseph Britz and Jo Spurway-Ash were linking up well in the midfield and Freddie was proving a handful for the Yateley defenders. As the game wore on however the boys started to show the Yateley players too much respect, and two goals in quick succession didn’t help the cause. Both went to Yateley Manor who were starting to play lovely football. Callum McCarthy was having a fine game, tackling hard and putting in a lot of effort. Finlay in goal was his usual brilliant self, pulling off a string of excellent saves. Yateley got another goal just before half time to send us into the break three down. H-T 0-3 The boys came out for the second-half with renewed vigour and determination, looking to get a couple of goals back. Again we started to push the ball around and the boys put together a couple of excellent passages of play which almost led to us getting onto the score sheet. Yateley had a fairly burly centre back though, who was managing to get in the way of all our attacks. He also had a big kick which would force us back into our half every time the ball went near him. Yateley then scored a goal against the run of play, and this seemed to knock the stuffing out of Eagle House, who went into defensive mode. Yateley added another two goals to their tally that topped off a very good game for them. Although we were quite comprehensively beaten, I am pleased to say that the never say die spirit was still there until the end. The epitome of this spirit was Daniel Orechoff, who had by far the best game I have ever seen him play. Unlucky boys but we will keep working hard, and the harder we work the better we will get. Final-score 0-6 Man of the Match- Daniel Orechoff (An excellent effort today)
UNDER 9As MATCH 1: 14.45 Wednesday 17th September 2008 Eagle House School 3 v 4 Cranleigh Goals: Alex McClelland, , Ishaan Haikerwal
Team Selected: Sam Cookson, Ben Howard, Jack Surrall, Ishaan Haikerwal, Alex McClelland, Harry Waters, Ruairidh Whelan, James Gibson, Henry South. The Junior Eagles first competitive match this season was against fine opposition in Cranliegh and another great advert for the excitement and entertainment of seven-a-side soccer. Kick off was delayed slightly due to, ahem, ‘equipment failure’ (one should remember that it is vital that all football players, regardless of age, wear shin-guards!), which also necessitated a last-minute line-up change for the Junior Eagles. Perhaps this unnerved the home side, although it certainly did not adversely affect Cranliegh who set about their attack swiftly - feeding the ball to the right side at every opportunity. It soon became clear why, as right-sided attacking midfielder Sam picked up the ball on the halfway line, drifted every so slightly inside and unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot into the top left hand corner. A stunning goal in the first two minutes to put Cranliegh ahead. It was clear the Junior Eagles would have to do something about the threat from the right, but before they could adjust themselves accordingly, Cranleigh struck again with another sweet strike from the boot of Sam. Eagle’s Captain Alex did superbly to come across and mark the right sided playmaker out of the game for the rest of the half, but this left a gap through the centre which Cranleigh exploited to take their third goal from a deflection in the box. By now the three-nil score line was beginning to look quite misleading as Eagle House had controlled the majority of the game and set up the most attacks. Ru had several shorts well saved that on another day would have put the Junior Eagles level or even in front. Some parity was restored shortly before half-time when Alex finished a fine first half performance by bursting into the box to slam home a well-deserved and well-battled goal. At half time the Junior Eagles were able to take stock and changed their formation in a bid to stop Cranleighs excellent attack and to force some more meaningful shots of their own in the second half. Alas, it seemed as if the plan had back fired when Cranliegh immediately got their fourth and star-player Sam’s hat-trick goal. Undeterred, the Junior Eagles didn’t panic and stuck to the plan, which ten minutes plan worked, with Cranleighs attack reduced to long range shots, despite some lovely ‘hold-up’ play by feisty forward Taylor. Harry and Jack began to really terrorize Cranleighs right-hand side as the Junior Eagles stepped up their attack, resulting in a second goal and bringing the score-line to a more manageable 4-2. At this stage, the Eagles Really felt they had a chance to take home a share of the spoils and felt they deserved it after controlling the majority of the game. Ishaan pushed up to join the attack and Henry was also sent forward to add his experience (as striker last year) and presence to the attack. Almost instantly Ishaan got his first goal for the Junior Eagles to make it 4-3. The last few minutes saw constant pressure from a heavily attack-weighted Eagles team, with some excellent and highly dangerous counters and breaks coming from Cranleigh's eager and skilled attack. Sadly for the Junior Eagles they were unable to truly eek out the result they felt they deserved, but were happy to have lost to such a talented side. In all a fast and competitive game of football which showcased the high level of effort, skill, teamwork and, perhaps most notably for the many spectators, entertainment from both sides. Eagle House Man Of The Match – Jack Surrall U/9B football match vs Cranleigh. Wednesday 17th September 2008. Lost 0 - 2 Team: Finlay O’Kane Daniel Salter Frank Turley James Saunders Tatso Matsumoto Callum McCarthy Frederick Hindley Daniel Heddon Joseph Spurway-Ash The second game of the season was against a very strong Cranleigh side. The first half started at very fast pace, with lots of end to end football being played. Cranleigh had the first couple of opportunities, the first bringing out an excellent save by Finlay and the second whizzing just past the post. James, Daniel S and Frank were being kept very busy in defence, with Cranleigh attacking at regular intervals. They stood firm though and frustrated the Cranleigh attackers time and time again. The midfielders, Callum and Daniel H were seeing very little of the ball, and when they did manage to get possession, there were very few options available to them. Frederick was battling manfully upfront alone, holding up the ball well. The more physical Cranleigh team were now starting to take control, but all credit to the Eagle House boys who never stopped trying. Cranleigh did get a breakthrough on the stroke of half time, due partly to some excellent play from them and partly from some fairly slack marking from Eagle House at a throw in. The ball was thrown to the striker, who found himself in space and hit a delightful shot, which escaped the despairing dive of Finley in goal. H-T 0-1 The second half started much the same as the first, Cranleigh attacking and the Eagle House boys defending like Trojans. Tatso came on off the bench and was all over the park, working hard. It was quite frustrating though as possession was given away at regular intervals. On too many occasions a pass was made to the opposition, giving them possession without having to work for it. We were also not looking to get into space to receive a pass which made it very difficult for the man who had the ball to find anyone to pass to. Cranleigh got a deserved second goal, again due to us not picking up and marking a man. We did have a few opportunities late into the game but unfortunately couldn’t capitalize, and as the final whistle went there was much thinking to be done before the next game. Our defence was excellent but our use of the ball when we had it was not up to scratch, and this would have to be worked on in training. Final-score 0-2 Man of the match- Finlay O’Kane (kept us in the game with some superb goal keeping)
UNDER 9As MATCH 1: 15:00 Wednesday 10th September 2008. Eagle House School 2 v 2 Aldro Goals: Ruairidh Whelan, Ben Howard
Team Selected: Sam Cookson, Ben Howard, Jack Surrall, Ishaan Haikerwal, Alex McClelland, Harry Waters, Ruairidh Whelan, James Gibson, Henry South.
An excellent opening game against a very strong and technical gifted side. Aldro were well organised, superb in the tackle (well timed and committed) and were accurate and powerful when shooting on goal. However the Junior Eagles dominated the first half with a fine display of teamwork and passing. Jack and Ben in defence were quick to spot any attack and were ably assisted by Alex McClelland taking up a defensive holding role in midfield. This allowed both wingers to mount very impressive attacking runs - with Ishaan cutting inside to force shooting opportunities for himself, Alex and Ru. On the left flank, Harry kept his head down to run past defenders but looked up in good time to spot the perfect cross or pass.
The first goal came from a decent exchange between the two wingers as Ish came inside, collected a pass from Harry and laid the ball off for Ru, who - with little space or time - turned excellently in the box to smash the ball into the top of the net.
More smooth passing football followed, with the Junior Eagles forcing several corner kicks. A corner kick from the left was first blocked and then cleared by Aldro, however it fell to Ben on the half-way line, who collected the ball calmly, steadied himself, took aim and sent a beautifully weighted long shot into the top right hand corner. An early contender for Goal of the season and a deserved reward for a near-faultless first half performance from Ben. The second half saw a change of line up and the Junior Eagle reverting to a more traditional 2,2,2. It also gave the boys a chance to try a couple of different positions and tactical changes ready for the season ahead. Particularly the chance to try two strikers. James came on to show his mettle in defence and Henry was introduced up front partnering Ru.
Aldro sensed the changes to our formation and immediately exploited a gap on the left which resulted in a hard shot being blocked but falling kindly for Aldro, whose striker simply tapped it in from a few feet.
Eagle House regained there composure to play-out the second half equally, although injuries forced players off and disrupted the flow of the game. Aldro were able to again exploit confusion immediately following a substitution and a similar parried shot dribbling across the goal line before being tapped in by Aldro's predatory strike force in the dying seconds of the game. An extra minute was played for stoppages, but neither team could find a winner. For a pre-season friendly this was a thoroughly competitive match that bodes well for both teams this season U/9B football match vs Aldro. Wednesday 10th September 2008 Lost 2 - 1 Team Sheet: Finlay O’Kane Daniel Salter Alex Bland Joseph Britz Oliver Crosby Frederick Hindley Daniel Orechoff Tatso Matsumoto Callum McCarthy The first game of the season got under way with an Aldro kick-off. The early pressure was applied by Aldro, who sent wave after wave of attacks on our goal. It took a couple of very fine saves from Finlay to keep us level in the first 5 minutes, and a lot of good defending by Daniel S and Alex managed to stem the tide somewhat. We managed to settle a bit after the frantic start and Tatso and Callum started to take some control in the midfield, creating a few openings for Joseph and Daniel O. A slight defensive mistake did however let the Aldro striker in and he made no mistake with his effort, despite the best efforts of Finlay to keep the ball out. There wasn’t much more to speak of in the first half and the half ended with no addition to the score. H-T 0-1 I did think we had played well in the first half, although there were a few things we did chat about over our oranges. I asked the boys to try and show a little more composure on the ball, and also to run into space after they had made a pass. The change in the second half was extraordinary. There was a lot more energy and enthusiasm and some of the passing was very slick. Freddie and Oliver were linking up nicely, and Daniel S was working his socks off, covering most of the pitch. It was only a matter of time before we got a break through, and boy was it a beauty. Alex fielded the ball in his half and layed off a lovely pass to Daniel O. Daniel made big strides into the Aldro half before getting it out wide to Joseph, who sent a lovely weighted ball into the middle. Freddie controlled the ball and then hit an unstoppable shot into the corner of the Aldro goal. 1-1 and everything to play for. The game became a fairly tight affair after that, with no side giving an inch. As the game neared its conclusion, the general consensus was that a draw would be a very fair reflection of the match. However it was not to be, as some great Aldro passing created an opportunity that was gleefully taken by their striker. It was to be the last kick of the game and the final whistle sounded. It was a bit disappointing, but I was very happy with the way the guys had put everything into the match, and they can be very proud of themselves.
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