Match Report
Match Report - 06 Feb 2010, Wadhurst United Junior Football Club Team not current drew with Langton Green
Wadhurst U10 v Langton Green U10
Overall, won one, lost one and drawn two games - thanks to Angus W and Rob S for some great coaching to achieve an "honours even" day
BEECH v Langton Kestrels : won 5-1
It was a "touch and go" day, with Pitch 4 unplayable and so we had to conjure up a 7-a-side game from the 11-a-side pitch for Oak. From the kick off it was clear that Beech were keen to make up for lost time - 7 weeks without a competitive game, but they were quick out of the blocks and within barely 5 minutes were 2 goals up with some fine finishing.
At times, the interplay was truly excellent, with some terrific movement and 1-2s between Oscar, Max and Kyle, which allowed Beech the opportunity to work their way relentlessly towards the Langton goal-mouth. Some truly excellent finishing and we were 3 nil up, Beech looking dominant although Robert was kept reasonably busy in goal, and can take credit for some great vision and kicking from hand to make 2 of the first half goals. Half time was 3-1, after a lucky break for Langton in the Beech six yard box.
But Beech kept up the pressure in the second half, and the slick movement of the ball was ever evident - some excellent movement and communication meant Beech kept maintaining a posiive direction of play, with Connor solid as ever in the central defence - it looked like Rob was in for a frost bitten second half. With Max ever buzzing around the box, another dashing run on goal and a trip from behind, left him to despatch a well taken kick from the spot. Langton looked a beaten side, and with another goal sealing the game at 5-1, it was a well deserved win, and in some style! The boys really did look as if they had enjoyed a hard earned, energy sapping win.
BEECH v Langton Dragons : lost 0-4
With Beech lacking perhaps a little match fitness, the Dragons looked an altogether sharper outfit. George picked up the keeping honours, and was certainly kept busy with Langton pressing forward on goal. With the pressure building and a few players tired and having to be played in new positions, Beech found it a little harder to keep their shape - one nil down. Some fine defensive work from Connor and Olly, with excellent keeping from George kept the first half deficit to just 2, but we knew we had a tough game on our hands.
Some of the movement was still very positive but we were not playing with the same natural passing game we showed in the first match, retaining the ball for too long and our attacks breaking down all too often in the midfield.
But the boys worked hard together, and whilst the end result was a 0-4 loss, they all came off the field havng worked hard, although hats off to George for sticking it out in the colder of the 2 games.
Man of the matches: all of the boys worked hard, and of particular note, there was some excellent finishing from Max and solid defending from Connor. But at the hub of so much of the strong and positive movement Beech showed was Oscar who had another great showing and gave us a "midfield masterclass".
OAK v Langton Dragons : drawn 2-2
Besides most of the pitches being either very wet or unplayable Oak managed to hold their own together on a slightly wider pitch – so it seemed, as there were moments when the players didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear my bellows of support or encouragement from the side line.
With a number of players unavailable and loosing Robert to Beech the boys worked their socks off and all didn’t stop running. With Dominic and Bailey left and right midfield and Tyler up front this seemed to work well with Tyler coming close to scoring a number of times in the first half. We did however seem to spend the first half also defending our goal a lot which we did like troopers. Praise goes to Louis, Billy left and right back with the ever tireless Will K defending centre, the chaps held their line brilliantly with excellent tackles and determination even though we were playing up-hill.
Second half seemed as if we had different players on the pitch (to begin with) all worked as a very tight unit, with Marcus coming on for Billy. The backs were busy passing to Dominic and Bailey who both again worked their socks off and with ever determination Dominic came up trumps with two fantastic goals out of the area in quick succession. But alas our lead was not to be for long, Langton, who did have some extremely good players seemed to get second wind and equalised in the last 5min of the game. No fault of our own really we just let the 2 goal lead go to our heads slightly and slackened off the pace. We were caught off guard with sometimes only Will K and Harrison left to defend with 3 or 4 Langton players in our box bombarding poor Harrison with shot after shot. But with hands that seemed as big as fences Harrison kept them out diving every way possible, a superb performance, true grit.
Player of the Match goes to Dominic for his tireless performance and 2 great goals.
OAK v Langton Kestrels : drawn 0-0
With Oak starting again up hill the pace seemed to slow down to begin with as if we all stopped, we just could not seem to keep the ball, and the so called B team were running around us like no business. But as my constant bellowing from the side lines sunk in they seemed to step up a gear. Louis seem to regain his form at left back with some rather smooth moves passing sweetly up the line on a number of occasions to Bailey who in turn, again tirelessly, running their defence again and again with Tyler and Dominic running as wingmen having a number of shots on goal with one beauty hitting the post. But as quickly as we moved up Langton came back harder and like lightning were back in our half and moving quickly towards our goal, passing to each other sweetly. However, as usual, if it was not for the constant battling and determination of our defence Will K, Billy S and Louis they may have scored, with Harrison again keeping the first half with a clean sheet with some fantastic fearless dives at the feet of the opposition.
Second half and the wind was behind us and down hill – Dominic played up front, Tyler into right midfield / defence and Marcus on for Billy at right back. This did seem to work quite well to begin with, however we again seemed to think this would be a walk in the park. Langton seemed to step up a gear and for the first 5 mins did not seem to move out of our half; with Marcus and Will K both showing some twinkle toe moves of their own, keeping the ball away from the centre area on a number of occasions. However, Langton kept battling on to try and get the ball in the back of the net and again with our solid defence and fearless goalkeeping the ball was kept out.
Dominic tried exceptionally hard to run their defence time after time but one player can only do so much as they seemed to forever surround him. Oak did have a few chances to score with a few smooth moves from Louis and Bailey down the wings in the last 5 minutes of the game with a number of close calls but alas we could not break their defence.
Over all I felt we played with some class at times but what did shine through more than usual is that everyone did on many occasions run their little hearts out and get back to defend their goal.
Man of the match went to everyone who played in the second game – reason is that when they all came off each of them were sweating and to me that’s all we could ask for, they tried hard. We did not lose, we held our own.
Man of the day goes to Harrison Walker – even though he’s my son I think you will all agree he showed no fear on the constant onslaught of attacks which did happen time and time again in both games. He kept us in the game. As to the words of the Langton coach “ he is the best goal keeper I’ve seen in this age group”
Wadhurst United Junior Football Club Team not current 0 - 0 Langton Green (Won 1, Lost 1, Drawn 2)