Saturday morning broke and thankfully the monsoon rains had finally subsided in time for the Cobras trip to St Paul's in Dorking. Boosted by the return of the midfield  'General' Ben G and the previous weeks promising performance the Cobras arrived full of self belief.
 
Right from the off the Cobras were on the front foot taking the game to the Panthers, with the 'Smith' boys proving a constant menace with their high pressing and intelligent running both on and off the ball. Kelsey, Marco and Angus looking assured and holding a tight line at the back, Ben pulling the strings in midfield and providing some much needed steel.
 
With ten minutes on the clock the Smith boys combined sublimely with some neat interplay with Harry breaking free in the penalty box and finishing with precision, 1-0 Cobras. It could have been so much better for the Cobras with a Ben G 'thunderbolt' rattling the Panthers crossbar soon after. This seemed to stir the opposition into life and they finally got themselves back into the game and started to ask questions of the Cobras. Only some excellent work in the midfield from Luc & Willem and Marco at the back kept the Panthers at bay. It was only a matter of time and the Panthers finally got their just rewards after some indecision at the back by the Cobras 1-1. 
 
The second half started at a frantic pace with Chris, Fin and Ben all providing the ammunition for the Smith boys up front with with Oscar going close on several occasions. Oscar's perseverance was to pay off as he managed to wriggle free in the box and made it 2-1 with a neat near post finish. Bravely struggling with illness Angus finally made way for Marco causing a re-organisation at the back with Fin on the right and Marco on the left, both unfamiliar positions for them both but they showed great determination and grit to keep the Panthers at bay.
 
A Panthers substitution proved pivotal to the game with a Dorking giant of a forward proving a real handful for the Cobras back line. Only a string of excellent saves from Willem in goal and  last ditch tackles by Fin, Kelsey & Marco preserved the lead. Unfortunately it was not to be as two quick goals in a five minute period all involving the recently arrived Panther sub turned the game on its head.
 
With the clock ticking the Cobras desperately tried to engineer the equaliser they so deserved with Chris,Ben and Luc all searching for the ever industrious Smith Boys to try and chisel out one last chance to save the game, the Cobras so deserved.
 
Unfortunately it was not to be, another 3-2 defeat. This was cruel on the Cobras who all individually had given their all, playing some lovely attacking football and showing great team work and determination. Both Oscar and Marco were rewarded for their excellent performances receiving the weekly awards.

​A sun glazed Great Common met the U11 Vipers for their first game of the season – we will look back longingly on this weather on the dark January cold mornings! New paint delivered and lines remarked (thanks Marco) and a decent sized crowd assembled – at least 20 J
 
The boys were entertaining Milford and handshakes took place before the game. Milford dressed as Inter Milan for intimidation purposes I guess and Loxwood dressed as, errr… Fulham.
 
The game started very sluggish with both sets of teams looking out of sorts. Jody however bucked the trend and held the line well to have a good initial break. Harry J started in goal which is a position that he always looks strong and confident playing – and kept Milford at bay initially with a strong one-handed save.
 
On the far-left Cody showed a very deft touch and some nice touches and turns as he controlled the ball well when receiving possession. Seb+Cam looked assured as a central defence pairing marshalling the area well.
 
Cameron drove the ball out of defence well with a strong forward run and the pass was out to Jody who unfortunately was pushed wide and unable to whip it back in quickly enough. The Loxwood flaw in the first half though was exploited quickly within a 2-minute window when 2 goals were succeeded in quick succession. The number 22 (there were two of them, I think it was the blond one!) exploited the space between the midfield and the defence lines and split the central defence pairing in half to score – a well taken goal.

​Pressure was exerted again straight from the kick-off, and with the boys backing off, Milfords #9 was able to shoot from range and the ball managed to wiggle its way through Harry Js legs to make it 0-2.
 
Sam came on for Cody with a slight change in tactics to use the young Maldini as extra cover for defence. However, it was his backing off that led the 3rd goal for Milford as Harry J was caught in no mans land and the ball sneaked past him.
 
There was no real pattern to the end of the 1st half as Raff was valiant in closing down an attack, Barney thwarted a 1:1 and Jody had a wide attempt that looped past the far post.
 
The 1sthalf finished at 0-3 and a team talk was required.
 
The 2nd half started brightly. Sam was nobbled off the ball unfairly and a free kick provided. In the aftermath of this lobbed ball Charlie had some bad luck as his rebounded shot hit the outside of the post. You felt it just wasn’t going to be the Vipers Day.
 
The 4th Milford goal came as Barney turned his back and being caught in the wrong direction provided a clear line of sight. The ball was poked past Sebby (who had replaced Harry J in goal for the 2nd half).
 
A break in the Milford dominance and ray of sunshine was provided as Cameron continued to work tirelessly and provided the ball to Samuel who scored with assurance. A goal on his debut!!!! Was the recovery on?
 
Errrr… No, it wasn’t
 
The team invited pressure in the 2nd half and when they did have a chance in the opponents final 3rd turned into Arsenal and tried to pass the ball into the net. Charlie was particularly guilty in this and just not “having a go” as is father and author of this report bellowed from the touchline.

​Tactics were amended, Cam went upfront.
 
The game was settling into a rhythm. Good pressure from Milford, chances on the break for Loxwood. Cameron injected a lease of life into the front line and was caught just offside as he poked the goal into the net – where is VAR when you most need it?
 
A strong Milford attack was repelled by William, who had worked tirelessly all game, but possession was lost and the final blow was then dealt as a long range effort looped towards Sebby who parried it into his own goal.
 
The boys had a few more chances but not enough quick-fire shooting was occurring. Most notable efforts were Cam just missing a rebound, a looping shot from Cam going past the post and Charlie over the bar when the ball came quickly to him at short range.
 
The game finished as a 1-5 defeat. A victory deserved by Milford but probably on balance not by this score line. They simply took their chances extremely well and we didn’t trouble their well organised defence enough.
 
Most encouraging though was the enthusiasm and effort. 0-3 down at half-time and a lot of boys would throw in the towel – but not our lot!. They toiled, worked hard and encouraged one another and each one had a smile on their faces.
                                                                                          
Samuel finished as Loxwood man of the match and his post-match interview with Harry J is below……

A bright sunny morning met the Cobras as they arrived at their new venue, Great Common,  with a larger team size (9x9), larger pitches, longer length matches (30-mins each way) and the offside rule enforced for the first time in a competitive match. A couple of weeks of training had all parents chomping at the finger nails as we waited to see how the season would start for our U11s. Our visiting team who were gleaming in their Norwich-esque attire were the Dorkonians (who I assume were not from the back end of deepest and darkest Anglia but rather from Dorking about 10 miles down the road!).
 
The game started with the 19/20 prioritised focus of the boys learning to properly play in position. Chris was in goal, a back 3 of Kelsey, Marco, Angus. Luc, Willem and Finlay in midfield with our very own S&S (not Shearer and Sheringham) – Smith & Smith holding the front line.
 
Our opponents started brightly and hit the outside of the post early on however in what was feature of the entire game Kelsey played a very intelligent positional game and with some tough tackling ensured that Dorkonian chances were limited.
 
The game had hardly settled into a pattern however when what also became a first half feature Oscar led the line extremely well and positioning himself on the halfway line managing to beat the offside trap. A charging run from the halfway line resulted in the keeper coming out to meet it and Oscar coolly scooped the ball over for a 1-0 lead within 6 minutes. Twice more this type of attack arose but the Dorking keeper did well to keep the score maintained saving twice in 1-on-1 situations.
 
A quick substitution just before the 14-min mark saw Sam/Dan come on for Luc/Willem and some relief for them from the beating sun. In the next attack Marco swung the ball in the right and in a lovely piece of skill Harry S switched feet and very smartly chipped the ball over the keeper with the outside of his right boot.
 
For the rest of the 1st half the game became unsettled with some end to end attacking with neither side really on top. The Dorking #3 showed some nice touches and their #20 was obviously dangerous. Oscar agonisingly hit the inside of the post that bobbled back out but with no-one to pounce. Dorkonian missed twice to the right of the goal with what were clear chances and to be fair they could probably feel aggrieved that they hadn’t pulled one back at the half-time stage.
 
Half-time arrived and the team re-grouped for a pep talk and some coaching by Coach Andy.

For the 2nd half Willem moved into goal with Chris placed into defence.  The half began in a more lethargic manner and this was to become a feature of the rest the of the game (with the exception of Harry S). Sam was very useful in midfield and has definitely found a place supplying incisive passes through defence lines. As tiredness started a couple of offsides were caught including a goal for Dorkonian which was ruled out but acted as an early warning shot for the Cobras. A 6-minute window decided the game. Firstly, a goal kick not cleared by midfield properly and the boys invited pressure by not getting tackles into our opponents. Their #20 burying the first into the bottom right-hand corner. Two minutes later almost a repeat. The boys backing off the #20 again who buried the ball with a strong shot into the same corner.
 
In this frantic period Harry S continued to toil but had the problem of lack of support and being frustrated decided to revert the game to Harry S vs Dorknians. Oscar had a left shot that whipped just past the left post before the killer blow was dealt in the 41st minute. A ball in the from the left wing found their #10 who hit an unstoppable shot into the top-left corner of the helpless Willem who even though he was looking quite assured (intelligently knowing when to leave chances etc) and really had had no chance with all 3 goals.
 
The Cobras did step up the pressure. Harry S continued to be a menace on the left, Luc had a looping cross from the right spin just past the post before Harry S also beat the keeper with a long range shot that wasn’t quite on target. The boys didn’t give up. Angus screaming for throw-ins and corners to be taken late and Sam showed he can also deliver a strong corner which could be a great feature of the oncoming season.
 
The game finished 2-3. In summary, a strong performance and boded well for the rest of the season. It should be noted that the very vocal support was string from both sets of parents and in extremely good humour.

Kelsey won the parents MoM vote, Harry S with his tireless effort the coaches MoM. An interview with our two stars of the day is below…..

In our second week of the new season the whole group were delighted to have two extremely well attended training sessions (20+) - including our first session at the hallowed grail of tier 9 football on Thursday night - Loxwood FC!!!!

If anyone wants more info on midweek training and is not in the Whatsapp group please let Andy Leete know.

On Saturday we welcomed Covey who looked very a very useful addition.

The training this week focussed on this years priorites on placing players into primary positions, playing on larger pitches and the introduction of offside. Drills included a dedicated goalkeeper session and games of playing into the channels on the half-size pitch as well as learning how to shoot from distance and have players follow-up. 

I didn't see the training game to finish it all off myself (as I had to get myself to Tottenham!) however Charlie reports that it was a 6-2 in which he scored, Sam Vettese, he thinks there was an own goal and hasn't a clue who scored the other! I am sure if it was in a YouTube video or something built on Mindcraft he would be a world expert on it. Either way he enjoyed it.

A big thank you too all the parents who assisted with the expert lining out of the pitch at Great Common on Saturday!!!! The results look very professional and you were fighting against an odd set of measurements - including some mysterious terminology of feet and yards :-) - specific thanks to Simon, Marco, Willem and Andy (I hope I didn't miss anyone).

We have matches next week. The coaches have the fixtures worked out from a meeting that they attended this week. I will post in here once received and as always keep an eye on the Whatsapp group for weekly catch-ups!

A great turn out for the new season. 20 in all! Included in that were 3 “newbies” - Sam, Barney & Silvester. Welcome to you all!!!! Bigger bonus was that two were in Spurs Kits which has pleased me 😂

Even the Sun showed up for a glorious morning on our new venue of Great Common!

Coach Paul and Coach Andy ran the boys through their paces and then a 10 v 10 match followed where for the first time offside was in force. It was a very tight game and although non-bibs probably deserved it (that was a statement from Charlie O’Mara in the car after) it was Charlie that struck the single goal that gave bibs their 1-0 win.

After the game new kits that have arrived were handed out and I think everyone agreed that they all look very smart.

The season starts properly next with some matches. Keep an eye on WhatsApp group for details from the coaches!!!