| Match Report |
A new era was ushered in today, with Vale deciding to take a break from playing and a new player being welcomed, Henry. He didn’t have a bad game either! It was an interesting week pulling the team together and with kids travelling from as far afield as Ely and Kelvedon and turning up sporadically (guess who was last to arrive!) there were concerns that we may not be ready, especially was we were playing on a 4G pitch and that is very different to grass. Those concerns were soon dispelled, with the team starting on fire. Following concerted pressure a poor throw in straight to Henry saw him turn and slice the ball into the top right hand corner. From the off we played some lovely football, getting our heads up to assess the options and mixing both dribbling and passing. On one of these occasions Sam worked his way through midfield before feeding the ball to Henry. If his first goal hadn’t been the sweetest strike, this one was and it hit the net before the Cambourne goalkeeper had moved. The same partnership again linked well, with Sam taking a throw in to Henry who bagged a hat-trick within his first 10 minutes of competitive football. Welcome to the team! Onto the second quarter, again with the wind at our backs. There was some great build up play through the thirds and once such occasion saw Alex (in defence) pass the ball to Henry, who turned and dribbled half the pitch before another clinical finish. This was followed by the best team goal, when Alex again dribbled the ball out of defence before feeding the ball to Albie, who dribbled the ball through midfield before feeding the ball to Rhys, coming in off the left wing, who buried another. My favourite moment of the season so far, though, saw Alex pass a freekick to Patrick in goal, who returned the ball to him to advance up the wing. Alex fed the ball into Alfie, who turned and took on two players before winning a throw in. It came to nothing, but it is exactly the way we want to see the kids play - confidence on the ball and trying to keep it. Onto the third quarter and I was a little nervous whether we would start to be pegged back. Alex, Patrick, Frankie and Rhys very kindly shared the goalkeeping duties and I can’t actually remember Frankie in the third quarter touching the ball! We only had one goal to show for absolute dominance, when an Albie freekick from distance was parried by the Cambourne goalkeeper and Henry pounced for his fifth of the game, but it was only heroics by that goalkeeper that kept the score from being a great deal more. Onto the last quarter, and it was a little more even. Rhys made a couple of great saves and Samuel blocked a goal bound shot, but we continued to try and play in the same way and carved out some great chances. Some better decision making in front of goal may have seen more reward, with Samuel and Alfie taking up some great positions, but the only success was a goal for Alex who somehow squeezed the ball past the goalkeeper at his near post from an acute angle with a sweet strike. We won all quarters with a clean sheet in each. Everyone played really well, with particular mentions warranted by Alfie, Patrick and Alex who were great. It would have been wrong not to award the player of the match to Henry though who looks like he’ll be a great addition to the team. What I learned today is that when we play so well and win so convincingly, the report mainly has to focus on just the goals, or it will be even longer! :)
|