|
2nd XI v Highfield
The 2nd XI travelled away to Highfield to play this match on a grass pitch, which to be honest, we found difficult to cope with. Highfield, having played on grass a lot more, passed and controlled the ball better than we did. They were quick to surround and put us under pressure. They passed the ball early and found space better than us too, so it was no surprise when we went a goal down after Edward Beedham had to go off the pitch due to an injury. Justin Parvess went close a few times but had little support from his team mates and so the score remained 0 - 1 at half time, but we were upbeat about our chances of coming back at Highfield in the second half.
This half started brightly for us. Kevin Akunwa and Will Price dropped deeper to bring the ball our of defence and to give the defence more solidity. However, as we pushed forward, looking for the equaliser, the defence were caught out by a quick counter attack and it was 2 - 0. Two more goals followed for Highfield in the second half as we lost concentration at the back and failed to cope with the bumpy pitch. Most of the boys had worked hard, but some need to position themselves better and work harder to get involved.
Daniel Rayner played very well in goal, making a great deal of saves in the match, but Highfield's stick skills were good and their passing slick in the goal area, so they were always a threat. Kevin Akunwa in particular worked very hard to get us moving forward along with Sam Auger and Felix Fowler performed well on the right wing. In retrospect, we lost because it took us a long time to get the ball under control on a bumpy pitch. This meant that too many passes were misplaced and Highfield were given time to close us down before we could make any impact.
This was the last match of our season and although it was far from a successful one, many of the boys showed a great deal of skill and understanding in their play. Some showed that they are willing to work very hard for the team. And they all demonstrated that they have learnt an awful lot throughout the season.
Final score Eagle House 0 Highfield 4
2nd/3rd XI v Edgeborough
Played on Astro this was a competitive and closely fought match with Edgborough just edging it with the only goal of the game.The goal came in the first half and was well deserved with Edgeborough looking to pass the ball around to create an opening in contrast to Eagle House who too often were just hitting and hoping it would find a teammate. We did not make good use of the space with the forwards playing too deep when we needed to try and stretch the game.
We changed things around in the second half and carried a bigger threat breaking quickly and on occasions moving the ball wide and around the defence. The last 15minutes was quite tense and exciting and we forced their goalkeeper to make a couple of good saves. Edgeborough always posed a threat and Harry Gaff too was kept busy in our goal.
The game finished 0 - 1. There were many good performances but it was Will Price who stood out in our team. He worked tirelessly with good skill always suppotrting the defence and being the driving force to get us moving forwards.
2nd XI v Cranleigh
The 2nd XI played this match on grass and we addressed our tactics accordingly, opting to hit the ball long out of a defensive position and pushing up quickly to support the receiver. Cranleigh, used to the surface, were able to take a stranglehold in the midfield with their half backs forming a dangerous triangle which we struggled to stop. Consequently, players were drawn in and that is when Cranleigh hit to the wings in an effort to get around the back of us. We adapted quickly, however, we managed to leak 2 goals in the first half in the process.
Although we had played fairly well in the first half, our forwards needed to hold the ball up and wait for support more when they received it and the Will Price in midfield needed to get amongst Cranleigh's midfield traingle. Thus, the second half was a different story completely. We had the majority of the play, with Kevin Akunwa and Will Price breaking up the midfield and Cameron Henderson, Felix Fowler and Justin Parvess holding the ball and playing a much better passing game up front. We were rewarded for our efforts when Felix scored a good goal for us after some excellent work on the wing by Conor Dickinson.
At 2-1, with our 2nds playing much better, we looked a good bet to get another and perhaps to go on and win the game.
Unfortunately, when we were committed to attack, Cranleigh broke very quickly and scored again. Such are the woes of battle!! The 2nds battled valiantly and are continuing to improve on their performances. The boys should all be pleased with their improvements and I am sure that win is just around the corner.
Final score: Eagle House 1 Cranleigh 2
2nd XI v Hoe Bridge
The 2nd XI battled hard against Hoe Bridge today. Hoe Bridge were a skilful side and played a good system with players working the ball to the right with a lot of success. After our fantastic game against Dragon, I was hoping for more of the same. However, in the first half we could not match Hoe Bridge for effort or team work.
Hoe Bridge continually got behind us and scored a well worked goal half way through the second half. We tried to fight back, but he had no link between defence and midfield and midfield and attack as players found themselves out of position and were often found watching, rather than chasing back to help the defence.
One nil down at half time and after a chance to regroup in the team talk, we began to play much better. Kevin Akunwa, our captain for the match, was quick to take the 'bull by the horns' and possibly tried to do too much, but he felt he needed to do extra to make up for others in the team who had a bad day and so should be applauded for his efforts. However, more disjointed play saw us go 2-0 down. Obviously, this woke us up and we started to use the right wing more and after some good defending the ball broke to Conor Dickinson on the wing, who smashed a ball across the area for Felix Fowler to score a very well worked goal. The game ended with the 2nds playing much better, but we needed to start more brightly and pass and move a lot more.
Final score: Eagle House 1 Hoe Bridge 2
2nd XI v Dragon
After a long journey, we had a very good warm up on an adjacent astro pitch and I felt confident that we would perform well.
Indeed as the match started, we played the ball around beautifully, utilising our improved skills and understanding well. I was very impressed that the boys had all taken on board what had been said to them and what we had practised.
In all, this was an excellent game to watch. Both sides were skilful and both played the ball around the pitch well. Although we lost, the score did not demonstrate how well we played. After the match there was little, if anything, I could criticize the boys for.
We had excellent performances all over the pitch, with Felix Fowler (1 goal), Kevin Akunwa and Will Price forming an excellent triangle in the midfield and Conor Dickinson and Jamie O'Kelly playing very well on the wings and Cameron Henderson and Justin Parvess (1 goal) forming a good striking partnership. Above all, our defence of Edward Beedham, Robert Hwang, James Vonchek and Matthew Fitz-James looked strong and were very unlucky with at least two of the goals which were not anybody's fault.
I am really looking forward to our next match. Based on this one, we are looking very strong!
Final score: Eagle House 2 Dragon 4
2nd XI v Caldicott
This game was played at a lively pace throughout with both sets of players showing good commitment to their team’s cause. Eagle House threatened to score early on, but once Caldicott adapted to the pace of the all weather pitch, they looked more likely to score as they committed more players on attack especially in the goalmouth. At times Eagle House struggled to move the ball out of defence as hopeful hits were blocked and turned back quickly into goalmouth pressure by the opposition. Shortly before half-time our failure to clear the ball out of defence resulted in a goal for Caldicott. Eagle House did fight back and had a couple of shots on target which were blocked on the line, but as we did not have players in the goalmouth to take advantage of the rebounds, these attacks came to nought.
Eagle House looked the more likely to score at the start of the second half, with one shot missing the goal by a few inches but Caldicott withstood the early pressure and came close to scoring themselves on a few occasions. The tempo of the game remained high to the end of the game but there was no further addition to the score. For Eagle House Kevin Akunwa was outstanding and always threatened to do something when he had the ball. Will Price, Tom Johnson and Felix Fowler worked hard while Conor Dickinson who came on as a sub at half-time showed some good touches.
Team: Daniel Rayner; Robert Hwang; Mathew Fitz-James; James Vonchek (Captain); Tom Johnson; William Price; Felix Fowler; Cameron Henderson; Jamie O’Kelly; Kevin Akunonwa; Justin Parvess
Substitutes; Sam Auger; Conor Dickins
Final score: Eagle House 0 Caldicott 1
2nd XI v St. Andrews (Woking)
We went into our first match with confidence after some good training sessions.
However, as the final score demonstrates, this first match did not see us play to our potential and we were beaten by a strong, skilful and well drilled side.
The match started well with Felix Fowler, Tom Johnson and Kevin Akunwa combining well in midfield, but after attacking in numbers, the defence were caught out by a quick counter attack before our midfield could get back, and we were down 1 - 0. We then conceded another just before half-time from a short corner.
At the break, the team were still in good spirits, but were told to look when they passed, as we gave the ball away far too many times and to support the person with the ball and to play around the opposition players.
Cue the second half, when we forgot to do everything we were told. We gave the ball away and left huge gaps between forwards and midfield and midfield and defence. St Andrews made us pay dearly as they scored a further 5 against us.
Although out heads did not go down and we kept plugging away, we did not play wioth our heads. We have to remedy this before our next match.
Final score Eagle House 0 St Andrews 7
|
