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| Football U9A Team 'Blog' |
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U/9A v Papplewick Team Chosen: Harry King Christian Gale Thomas Ogilvie Seb Baldwin Max McCarthy Max Hindley © Jack Borthwick This game was a bit disappointing for the team for a couple of reasons. Firstly I truly believe we were the better side in the first half, dominating possession and territory. It is said that football is a game of two halves, and this was proved true today. Secondly, we had been putting huge amounts of time and effort into working on our marking and closing down our men at training, and although we have been doing this superbly at practice sessions, this all seemed to go out of the window today. The game started off quite freely, with some lovely flowing moves from both teams. Eagle House was enjoying plenty of possession, but we just weren’t managing to create any meaningful chances. The midfield trio of Max M, Seb and Max H were playing beautifully together and the passing was accurate and crisp. We managed to have a few long range efforts at the Papplewick goal, but these were dealt with easily by their keeper. Our new centre back pairing of Christian and Tom were managing to deal with everything that Papplewick threw at them, and Harry was having a rather quiet time in goal. The football was entertaining and both sets of supporters seemed to be enjoying the contest. Jack was trying to get involved up front, and although he was being closely marked by the Papplewick defence, he did manage to link up with Max H on a few occasions, which created chances for both boys. It was Papplewick however who drew first blood, with an excellent strike by their attacker that left Harry with no chance. There was very little time left in the half, and it ended without further scoring. H-T 0-1 At half-time I basically asked the boys to remember to mark their men, and to go with them if they were making a run. We had also started to give the Papplewick boys too much time on the ball, and without any pressure on them, they were taking control of the midfield. Papplewick came out raring to go, and started to play some delightful football. Harry suddenly became the busiest man on the pitch, and pulled off a string of excellent saves to keep us in touch. The more Papplewick pressed, the more we dropped off them and it wasn’t long before they were in complete control. Credit must go to all of the boys who never stopped running, but we had lost the shape we had in the first half, and were hanging on for dear life. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold on for long, and Papplewick managed to add four goals to their first half total. We did have two excellent chances at the end, but both were saved well by the Papplewick keeper. It was a frustrating afternoon for the boys and myself, but if we can keep playing the kind of football we played in the first 12 minutes, there is huge potential for this side. F-T 0-5
U/9A v Yateley Manor Team Chosen: Jack Borthwick Thomas Ogilvie Max Rickard Max McCarthy Max Hindley © Harry King Sebastian Baldwin We had put in a lot of effort at training this week, focusing specifically on our marking at corners, throw-ins and opposition goal kicks, which had not been terribly good in the previous game against Cranleigh. The boys had been very positive in training and the intensity level in the team had seemed to rise a notch. This was always going to be a very difficult fixture, with Yateley always proving to be tricky opponents. There was a flurry of activity in the first minute of the match, with the first real chance of the game falling to Seb. He was unfortunately not able to get his shot on target from a tight angle, and the ball slid just past the post. The resulting goal kick led to the Yateley’s first goal, and unfortunately poor marking was to blame. The ball sailed over our midfielders heads, and left Max R in a two on one situation with the Yateley forwards, who duly took their opportunity with both hands. This was frustrating as the boys had done so well in this aspect of the game in training the previous afternoon. Eagle House were looking quite good on attack, moving the ball around nicely and getting into great positions. A sweeping move led to the ball being crossed by Max H, and Jack hit a cracking shot with his left foot which just skimmed the outside of the post. Yateley fought back and doubled their lead a minute later, with an opportunistic strike just managing to beat Harry in goal. Yately managed to grab another just before half time, to leave us in a spot of bother. H-T 0-3
The second half was a tough affair with Yateley coming out to try and prove their superiority, and Eagle House battling to get back into the game. We were again creating chances, with Max McCarthy putting in telling challenges and distributing the ball beautifully. Tom had come on to try and shore up the defence, and he was also getting some very good challenges in. Yateley were playing some beautiful football though, and managed to score another three goals in the second half to add to their first half tally. The boys tried hard right until the final whistle, but we were unable to get on the score sheet. F-T Yateley Manor 6-0 Eagle House On the plus side, our marking improved drastically after the first goal, and the boys never stopped trying to pass the ball around. I do feel however that we were muscled off the ball a bit, and need to get a little stronger when trying to hold onto the ball or when going in for 50-50 challenges.
U/9A v Cranleigh Team chosen: Jack Borthwick Max McCarthy Thomas Ogilvie Sebastian Baldwin Max Hindley © Harry King Max Rickard This was a very entertaining game against a skilful and determined Cranleigh side. The game started at a frantic pace, as both sides were battled it out for superiority. Cranleigh had the best chance first off, with only an athletic save by Tom keeping us on level terms. After some enterprising play from the Eagle House midfield trio, Max M played a very good ball through to Jack who finished delightfully to put us one up. The lead didn’t last long however, as Cranleigh came storming back with a very good goal from their striker. Cranleigh were on top at this stage and it was only a string of excellent saves by Tom that kept the scores level. Harry and Seb were playing very well at the back, and were managing to deal with wave after wave of Cranleigh attacks. Max Hindley was having a good game in the centre of midfield, and he managed to slide another through ball to Jack, who again used his pace to get away from the Cranleigh defence and put Eagle House 2-1 up. We had to make a change at this stage and James Scott came on to replace Max Rickard who had sustained an arm injury. James played very well in his A team debut, putting in some excellent tackles and working tirelessly all over the park. Cranleigh were pressing hard for an equalizer and on the stroke of half time got just rewards for their efforts, leaving us with the prospect of a mouth watering second half. H-T 2-2 Cranleigh came out firing in the second half, and had a bit of a purple patch in the first five minutes, scoring three unanswered goals. The Eagle House boys looked a bit shell shocked, but to their credit their heads never dropped, and if anything, they played with more determination. There was some excellent tackling by Seb, Max M and Max R ( who had recovered from his injury) and some lovely skill in the middle of the field by Max Hindley. Eagle House were starting to get back into the game and it came as no surprise when Jack popped another one in to complete his hat trick. A come back was on the cards, but unfortunately this never materialized, and Cranleigh wrapped up the game a few minutes later with the final goal of the game. F-T Cranleigh 6-3 Eagle House All in all this was probably a fair result, but I was very pleased with the way the boys played, especially after we had gone three down in the second half. Congratulations to Jack Borthwick for his hat trick and to Tom for making a couple of really top class saves.
U/9A v Sunningdale Team chosen: Jack Borthwick Max McCarthy Thomas Ogilvie Sebastian Baldwin Max Hindley © Harry King Max Rickard The first game of the season is always an interesting one, as you never quite know how the guys are going to play when facing opposition from another school. So I was extremely pleased that the boys took everything they had learned in the training sessions and put it to good use on the field. The team work and energy on the field was excellent and the boys worked hard for every minute of the game. We started brightly and were rewarded almost immediately with a goal that was superbly taken by Max Hindley. The passing was excellent and we looked dangerous every time we went on the attack. Jack was the next to get on the score sheet with a well struck shot that left the keeper with no chance. Eagle House was controlling the game, with Tom looking very comfortable in goal, and Harry controlling the back, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the Sunningdale striker broke away and managed to slide the ball past Tom to pull one back for the away team. Eagle House never looked like giving this one away though, and our two goal lead was quickly restored by another Jack Borthwick thunderbolt. Seb, Max McCarthy and Max Hindley were dominating the midfield and Sunningdale were seeing very little of the ball. With half time approaching Max McCarthy tried his luck from long range, and his shot just managed to sneak under the Sunningdale keeper to give us a healthy half-time lead. H-T 4-1 There were a few changes made at the beginning of the second half with Harry replacing Tom in goal, Seb moving into the centre back position and Max Rickard coming on to take up a midfield role. The second half was a much more physical contest, with some bruising tackles going in from both sides. Credit must be given to the boys who never pulled out of any tackles, and who came out with the ball on most occasions. Seb in particular was going into every challenge as though his life depended on it, and I hope to see this kind of tackling for the rest of the season. Max Rickard was showing some fine skill and he set up the next goal which was again skilfully taken by Max Hindley. The next eight minutes belonged to Jack, who not only managed to grab his hat-trick, but also added two more after that to take his total to five for the match. This was an excellent team performance and it augers well for the rest of the season. Well played guys! Final score: Eagle House 8- Sunningdale 1
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