| Match Report |
Two new players, Daniel and Flynn, were welcomed to the team and settled in very quickly. The pre-match preparations were de-railed this week by Samuel being taken ill upon arriving at the ground married with some lax time-keeping and Rhys preferring to play on pitch this week, but some last-minute re-jigging hopefully resulted in everyone still playing similar time and in most positions. Mia very kindly agreed to don the gloves in the first and third quarters, for which I am grateful. The first quarter saw Albie and Daniel in defence, with Frankie (left), Alex and Alfie (right) in midfield and Rhys leading the line. Patrick and Flynn replaced Frankie and Rhys during the quarter. From the beginning EYFC were the stronger side, dominating possession. Several chances were created and only an inspired quarter from the Burwell goalkeeper kept the score level. Onto the second quarter and Daniel had expressed a wish to play in goal. He was well protected by Patrick and Flynn, with Alex (left), Albie and Rhys (right) in midfield and Frankie up front. Mia replaced Alex and Alfie came on for Rhys during the quarter. The good football continued, and we were awarded our first penalty of the season when a Rhys corner was clearly handled by a defender. As he had won it, Rhys took the penalty and a fine penalty going in off the underside of the bar saw the opportunity taken. As the half progressed Patrick made one of his trademark penetrating runs from defence and Albie slide a through ball to him, which Patrick duly buried. Further chances came to extend the lead, but they weren’t taken only a great save by Daniel kept the lead as it was. Onto the third quarter and Alex (until replaced by Alfie) and Frankie now formed a formidable defence. The midfield was made up of Flynn (left), Rhys and Daniel (Right), with Albie up front until he was replaced by Patrick. Some good pressing by Albie saw him win the ball from a Burwell defender before calmly scoring. Burwell weren’t without an attacking threat and a free kick on the edge of our penalty area saw a ball deflected off Alex’s shoulder into the roof of the net. Despite this, the game continued in a similar fashion to before with lots of further chances being created, with Flynn taking up some great positions without being used. The lead was again stretched when a great cross from Alex into Rhys saw a good save by the Burwell goalkeeper push the ball into Albie’s path and he calmly passed with his left foot into the bottom corner of the goal. Onto the last quarter and Albie took the gloves. Alex and Alfie were in defence, with Flynn (left), Patrick and Flynn (right) in midfield and Daniel as forward, until the new lads were replaced by Rhys and Frankie and a re-shuffle occurred. Again the Burwell goal led a charmed life, but one of many great moves saw a replica of our fourth goal, but this time with Daniel being foiled and Flynn benefitting. Possibly the best finish though was left until last, with Mia rolling a brilliantly weighted pass into Alex’s path, who fired a great shot from outside of the area into the top corner. All round it was a great performance and everyone played really well. I tried to set them individual tasks before the game and, of those, both Alfie and Mia made real efforts in trying to have more confidence on the ball. Some of the kids also showed great discipline in holding defensive positions despite most of the play being in the and around the opposition’s defensive third, especially (again) Alfie who enabled Alex to play as an auxiliary midfielder in the final quarter. On reflection, Alfie can feel hard done by, but the player of the match was awarded to Alex, who was everywhere and was involved in a lot of what was good. Well done everyone though, you all did fantastically well.
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