Saturday October 5th - St Paul's Panthers 2 v 5 Loxwood
The u13 Magpies came into this away fixture at a scenic Dorking having narrowly lost out in the previous two league fixtures. Slow starts and lack of finishing being the two main areas in these encounters. The idea in this match was to utilise our wide players/wingbacks to really stretch the opposition and to keep possession of the ball as much as possible.
It was clear though that the ridiculously small pitch was not going to allow for much space at all.
With the ref eager to get the game underway (he was going somewhere afterwards apparently!), the match started promptly, and despite our pre-match talk of starting fast, the magpies were 1 down within 30 seconds. Game on!
The magpies weren't deterred though, and within a couple of minutes, Neo brushed aside several flailing defenders to coolly convert the equaliser.
It quickly became apparent that the opposition were reliant of 1 or 2 key players, and that the game would develop into an end to end contest as there was literally no room to play football.
Some really nice 1 touch football from the Magpies in midfield stared to pay off and the opposition started to get pushed back very deep. This soon lead to 2 quick fire goals (Neo and Charlie) and now it was really one way traffic. The defence wasn't really tested very often in the first half, but when called upon the back three of Harry B, Harry P and Kinley dealt very calmly with the sporadic attacks. On the rare occasion that GK Charlie was called into action, his handling and communication were excellent, bringing a relaxed feel to our defensive shape.
The half ended with another Magpies goal, an excellent long pass down the line from Harry P (one of a few) led to Neo out muscling the defender(s) and firing into the bottom corner. And so the half ended 4-1, and the Magpies were so on top that the challenge now was going to be to 'stay in shape and focused'.
The second half really was split into two sections. The first being a totally dominant Mapgies displaying excellent quick passing and keeping the ball well, but all that possession led to only one further goal (Rowan), as the boys were starting to overplay - a lack of 'pulling the trigger' and trying to beat one more man becoming a feature.
On a rare foray into our half, the opposition were awarded a (sympathy?!) penalty after a strong but fair challenge. this was dispatched into the right hand corner, despite Charlie getting a good hand to it. The last 10 minutes of the game then became frantic and disjointed, with opposition throwing more people forward and starting to get some more openings.
So, the match ended 5-2, and on reflection the score could, and should, have been bigger.
In summary, a good result and much needed win ahead of a busy period of matches. Some practice at training in the art of shooting/finishing lies ahead!!
Some good individual performances in a game where the unsuitable pitch made it near on impossible to play good football. The MotM is given to Neo for his huge contribution in goals, effort and determination.
Next up, our old foes Ewhurst !!
The u13 Magpies came into this away fixture at a scenic Dorking having narrowly lost out in the previous two league fixtures. Slow starts and lack of finishing being the two main areas in these encounters. The idea in this match was to utilise our wide players/wingbacks to really stretch the opposition and to keep possession of the ball as much as possible.
It was clear though that the ridiculously small pitch was not going to allow for much space at all.
With the ref eager to get the game underway (he was going somewhere afterwards apparently!), the match started promptly, and despite our pre-match talk of starting fast, the magpies were 1 down within 30 seconds. Game on!
The magpies weren't deterred though, and within a couple of minutes, Neo brushed aside several flailing defenders to coolly convert the equaliser.
It quickly became apparent that the opposition were reliant of 1 or 2 key players, and that the game would develop into an end to end contest as there was literally no room to play football.
Some really nice 1 touch football from the Magpies in midfield stared to pay off and the opposition started to get pushed back very deep. This soon lead to 2 quick fire goals (Neo and Charlie) and now it was really one way traffic. The defence wasn't really tested very often in the first half, but when called upon the back three of Harry B, Harry P and Kinley dealt very calmly with the sporadic attacks. On the rare occasion that GK Charlie was called into action, his handling and communication were excellent, bringing a relaxed feel to our defensive shape.
The half ended with another Magpies goal, an excellent long pass down the line from Harry P (one of a few) led to Neo out muscling the defender(s) and firing into the bottom corner. And so the half ended 4-1, and the Magpies were so on top that the challenge now was going to be to 'stay in shape and focused'.
The second half really was split into two sections. The first being a totally dominant Mapgies displaying excellent quick passing and keeping the ball well, but all that possession led to only one further goal (Rowan), as the boys were starting to overplay - a lack of 'pulling the trigger' and trying to beat one more man becoming a feature.
On a rare foray into our half, the opposition were awarded a (sympathy?!) penalty after a strong but fair challenge. this was dispatched into the right hand corner, despite Charlie getting a good hand to it. The last 10 minutes of the game then became frantic and disjointed, with opposition throwing more people forward and starting to get some more openings.
So, the match ended 5-2, and on reflection the score could, and should, have been bigger.
In summary, a good result and much needed win ahead of a busy period of matches. Some practice at training in the art of shooting/finishing lies ahead!!
Some good individual performances in a game where the unsuitable pitch made it near on impossible to play good football. The MotM is given to Neo for his huge contribution in goals, effort and determination.
Next up, our old foes Ewhurst !!
