Match Reports: Waverton Dynamos 3 - Tarvin 4 & Waverton Arrows 3 - Tarvin 3

Two great matches this evening with some real talent on display across all teams with some great positives and a couple of things to work on over the next few weeks.

Game 1: Waverton Dynamos 3 - Tarvin 4

Considering the Dynamos is a team that has only been formed over the last few weeks and still waiting to be processed into the league proper, we more than matched the first Tarvin team that had been playing for well over two years. We moved the ball around superbly at times and there was some great fluid passing going on; the main downside was that the boys are tending to literally attack as a team, all pushing up the pitch together which did on occasion leave us with no-one in our own half other than Finlay in goal! As we haven’t yet trained on any of the specific areas though, I can honestly say that the boys have clicked very quickly indeed and are already starting to know where others are on the pitch.

Some great displays across the entire pitch from back to front drew really solid praise from the Tarvin coaches who couldn’t believe how new the team was – really well played everyone.

Game 2: Waverton Arrows 3 - Tarvin 3

Our second match was just as competitive as the first, the main difference was that the Arrows were holding their positions a bit better - although not always! It was quite end to end in large periods and there was some great goalkeeping, defending and forward attacking play that we should be proud of. The main area in this second team that we need to address, and quickly, is our continued pressing of the ball across all areas of the pitch (we were being far too polite again this evening) and also our shooting – we had a number of chances and we have to at times know when to just put our foot through the ball rather than trying to place it into the net. We can certainly work on that though. Again, well played to all the boys tonight – it was a real hard-fought match, and sets us up well for next weekend.

I’m keeping it brief this week and will try to keep to this format going forward, although I can’t always promise it. As you know I handed out the new kit tonight – all the boys looked superb and seemed very proud to be wearing the colours. For the boys that weren’t there, I’ll hand them out at training next Friday which will be back at the County Offices in Upton: 5:45-6:45.

I’ll advise on matches for Saturday 7^th shortly – the Arrows definitely have a Shield game against Tarvin (!), but just waiting on confirmation of the location and time. For Dynamos, I’m trying to get a match sorted but am struggling with the location – I’ll keep you posted but time is starting to run out unfortunately.

Thanks all and hope you have a Happy New Year.

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Match Report: Arrows 1 - Princes Villa 5

We last met Princes Villa two months ago and the score line was the same (5-1 to the opposition) and looking back at that match report I called out how well we kept and passed the ball to really stretch PV, whilst at times we unnecessarily invited pressure onto ourselves which, when added to a few lucky goals led to our defeat that day. Today was similar in some aspects, but unfortunately we decided not to use our passing and positional awareness and instead, on the whole invited PV to put an awful lot of pressure onto us which cost us heavily.

From our point of view, not all, but most of our players today didn’t seem up for it – there was a lot of tiredness throughout and we seemed very lethargic and we started to fall back to how we played at times early on in the season in that we didn’t seem willing to put pressure on the ball and on the occasions we did, we didn’t see it through with a second tackle or push up the field, or we kept trying to do the same thing again and again which PV quickly recognised and cut the play down. PV have one or two individually skilled players, but the Arrows as a team can outplay them, I’m certain of this; but they need to want it, and today they just mostly didn’t – I know that may sound harsh, but it’s what we all saw this morning.

I felt that we all collectively started off on the back foot this morning – there wasn’t a decent number of goal builders like we normally see (many, many thanks though to the Parents (and cajoled Grandparents!) that did help us get ready). On top of that we had nearly half the boys getting here late this morning – this then impacts on how warmed up and ready to play they all are - at 20 minutes to kick-off we only had 5 boys on site ready to warm up and at 15 minutes we had 7... Being fully ready to warm up with goals prepared and in place really does set the tone for the rest of the session so can I ask all parents to really help us in this aspect going forward.

Our bookings for training for the next two Fridays have been cancelled by the club and County Offices so unless you hear anything from me regarding a friendly between Christmas and New Year then we should next convene on Friday 6^th January. I’ll drop out confirmations either way before then.

I hope you all have a great festive period and some much needed rest.

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Match Report: Waverton Arrows vs. Waverton Dynamos

To all the new parents/guardians, I’d like to say a formal welcome, although I know I’ve spoken to you all individually.

To every parent and player today – I’d just like to reiterate what I said at the end of the match – I’m proud of every single boy. I always look at players and then try to match them to their best positions, but obviously it was a bit different today; the Arrows team selected I was comfortable with, but with the Dynamos team I was going on past experience for five of the boys and then I had to go with my observations with the remaining four today from what I’d seen over the last 2-3 training sessions. I don’t think that anyone was disappointed.

Normally, in the past when we have played Arrows v Arrows they were always competitive, but today the boys really took it up a notch – I called out the boys as Yellows and Greens and they played as such – really competitive across all areas of the pitch. I’m not going to call out individual boys today as with eighteen it will make the mail longer (although I know that hasn’t stopped me in the past).

What I will say again though, is the competitiveness of both teams was outstanding; you would be hard pressed to call out that this was the first time that one of the teams had played together at all, let alone in a competitive match. I saw every single boy come off the pitch today with a massive smile on their face which ultimately is what it’s all about for me, I hope you all agree.

As you know I introduced all the parents to the two teams at the end of the match today; every single player that was there was happy and there were loud cheers all around when I announced the teams – I am extremely excited to drive the development in both teams now and see how we all progress in the coming months and seasons.

I promised I would reconfirm the teams, and these are below. All new players have provided me with their forms so these just need to be processed now; for players that are moving between teams, I’ll need a transfer form to be completed (sad I know) – I’ll send these out this week and hopefully we can get the players aligned to their teams as soon as possible.

Dynamos

Finlay

Larry
Elliott
Sam Ch
Sion
Oliver Barnes
Kailen
Reece
Alex
Jack C-P

Arrows

Oscar
Max
Harry
Oliver Wrigley
Tom
Jack Binns
Sam Curtis
Henry
OMG
Jack Broadhurst

Both teams will be playing in the same league, although the Dynamos will not play in the Shield competition this season as its already mid-flow. I’ve had commitment from the league that the Dynamos will have fixtures early in the new year – between now and then I will be trying to organize matches myself with teams in and around the area, please bear with me on this.

I hope you and the boys all enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you all at training on Friday.

Final thanks go to Damon for being our Ref, Matt for running the Dynamos today and to all parents that helped construct and break down the pitch.

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Match Report: Waverton Arrows 2 - Groves 2

The last time we played Groves was early October and they beat us 7-0 after our boys played very much within themselves and we struggled to pass and play positively. We were a completely different team today, albeit with its own intricacies and areas for improvement.

Myself and a fellow Waverton u10 coach found ourselves walking around the Waverton field at 9am trying to ascertain if our respective matches could take place such was the cold and ground frost we woke up to – we were due to play on different parts of the field and slightly different KO times (we were later) – we came to the decision that the u10’s wouldn’t play as their pitch was too hard in places, but that ours was possible due to our pitch being on an area of ground that hadn’t been used for a bit so was relatively fresh with no hard areas. I spoke with the Groves manager to confirm he was happy (and he was), so it was game on!

We went for our 2x 25min halves today and it really is starting to suit us – our use of subs is working on the whole really well during overall match-play. We began H1 and I was initially worried as Groves played very positively and camped themselves in our half – some close shots were saved or seen out by Oscar who’s shot-stopping skills are growing week on week. After this initial period of pressure though, we started to click and pushed on into the oppositions half and some of our passing continued on from the last few weeks, really putting the opponent under pressure and making opportunities for ourselves. One such really positive move saw Sam Curtis cut in from the left and bury it low into the bottom right to take us to 1-0. It wasn’t long after that, that we applied so much pressure – wave, upon wave of attacking the ball so close to the goal that we caused Groves to score an own goal to take us to two up.

From that point on, we did seem to start to slow down play, both in a positive (breaking up Groves’ play) but also in a negative way at times as our own play started to become a little scrappy, with us not connecting with the ball as well as we should and our decision making not being as sharp as I have seen in the last few games. At one point, Groves passed the ball into their number 5 who turned like a barge to be honest (or maybe it was just me who saw it in slow motion!) – he had 4 Waverton players on him, but was still able to rifle it into the top of the net to take us to an end of half: Arrows 2 – Groves 1.

H2 began and we started well, pushing the ball around positively for the first few minutes, but then we started again to play within ourselves – things like, not quite getting to the ball at times, or not following through a positive kick, or running to clear the ball and taking our eyes off it at the last moment to make the clearance or pass not as strong as it normally would be – I’m sure it was the coldness of the morning to be honest, but more on that in a bit. A great bit of play from Groves resulted in them equalising – this was after about 10 minutes or so into the half and meant we had a very interesting final 15 minutes on our hands!

The game was very much played on the whole in this final 15 minutes in the middle third – it was a real battle, and our midfield was resolute to be fair – we missed some challenges, but made most. The thing that was frustrating throughout the period was again we were just not as on it as I’ve seen that we can be – our breaks were slower than normal and we at times started to play ‘a bit nice’ in terms of not competing for every ball. Our attacking boys went so close on a few occasions, especially in the dying minutes, but then the momentum would swing back to Groves who had a fair few chances of their own – each one was taken care of though by our defensive unit. The game ended 2-2 with both myself and the Groves coach, Al, both thoroughly mentally and physically exhausted!

A month or so ago we would of lost this game – our heads would of gone, having let the other team back in, plus with the temperature, as we’ve seen in the past would have given the other team the advantage – we are adapting though and learning so much as we go from game to game.  We can now see out a game, whilst still trying to nick it – it’s great to see and overall I’m happy today (I’ll always pick holes in things and look for improvement, but that’s what I’m here for). The boys came off the pitch and everyone seemed happy – they really knew they’d had a game; I know that it was cold but again everyone spoke about how well we’d played. This means we are now unbeaten in two, going into our next shield game against another Ellesmere Port side!

I haven’t yet called out everyone today, not on purpose, but due to so much going on, but I’ll summarise here; Oscar was solid in goal today; Elliott, OMG and Sam Cheetham played well in defence, containing and clearing the ball when needed. Harry in his defensive midfield role both assisted the defence and helped launch attacks; Sam Curtis, Oliver Wrigley and Jack Broadhurst powered forward and tried to make things happen today and were supported well by Tom (who had a great impact in AM and RM roles today) and Sion when they came on to try to push the team forward.

A final couple of thanks; Damon first of all for being our ref today; Rob for keeping the subs warm throughout the entire match (the boys loved it!) and everyone that helped set up and break down the pitch.

See you all on Friday at training.

Carl
AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Waverton Arrows 6 - Upton Jaguars 4

We played our second Shield match this weekend against a team that is normally in our league and have proved to be a well organised and attacking team in the past.

I pushed for the game to be 2 x 25 min periods that proved to be a better format for us, having played this previously and successfully against Ellesmere Port Rangers a few weeks ago. I’d also selected the team to have starting players and subs which was new to us this week; both worked fantastically well for us today so I’ll look to continue going forward.

H1 began and we were on the front foot; immediately attacking the ball and pressing Upton – there was some great movement and our fantastic passing was back and evident this week (can you guess what we focussed on last night in training ?!?). After a period of persistent play from us we won a corner and Jack Binns’ pressure on the opposition made them succumb to an opening own goal. From the kick off we went again and quickly scored a second through Oli Wrigley who looked really up for it today (with a smile on his face which is always great to see). After a few subs (Sam Ch for Jack Br, and Henry for Harry) we continued to keep our shape on the whole and battled for every ball. Oli Wrigley broke again and quickly closed on the ball after a great passing move and scored to take us to what seemed a comfortable end of half – Arrows 3 – Jaguars 0.

The boys were in good spirits during the break and were eager to begin the second half. It was clear very quickly though that the Upton coaches had been in the ear of their boys and they started off the second half like we did in the first – we were very sluggish in getting on to the ball and Upton capitalised on this and hit us with two quick goals – we suddenly found ourselves at a very nervy (for me anyway!) 3-2.

The Upton coaches were getting excited now but we just had to stay calm – Harry in his Defensive Midfield role gave us that calmness today, winning most of the balls and then distributing well. A great example of this was Harry winning a great battle with a number of Upton boys, and then feeding Jack Br the ball who made a great strike to restore a bit more of a comfortable margin. Within minutes of kick off that gap became wider again, with Oli W scoring his hat-trick which I know he was after, being so close to it after our recent Ellesmere Port game. Not long after the resultant kick off, Upton pulled one back to take us to 5-3.

After the kick off, we pressed again and what has to be said again some excellent passing through the entire team, Oli W took his tally to 4. Some of the boys started to flag a bit so a bit of space opened up to give Upton the opportunity to take a goal back. The last five minutes though, we were thoroughly dominant and controlled the ball well – protecting the lead and not making any silly mistakes which was great to see, as we need to learn how to close off matches when we are ahead – this was a great beginning to that process. End of the game - Arrows 6 – Jaguars 4.

All the boys today played their part – Oscar is getting some confidence in goal, Max, OMG and Sam Ch are really reading the play well and their positional awareness is getting stronger. Harry and Henry are great in that defensive midfield role which gives them a bit of license to get forward and break up play much higher up the pitch – along with a few opportunities to shoot too! Oli Barnes was chasing down the ball well too, and was starting to use his body against some of the Upton boys so we’ll look at that too in the coming weeks. Finally our front attacking line of Jack Binns, Oli Wrigley and Jack Broadhurst are really developing a great understanding together and proving to be more than a handful for any of the teams we are facing at the moment. Well done to everyone.

Next week is against Groves which I’m really looking forward to – email regarding availability is due to be released shortly.

Thanks all,

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Tarvin 7 - Waverton Arrows 2

Hi All,

Yet another competitive game where we are playing so much better than the end result suggests – our last game three weeks ago against Tarvin ended 8-3 so at least we are consistent in terms of a 5-goal margin!

At times we sometimes individually and then collectively drift through sections of the match, for instance we weren’t on it from kick off and 30 seconds later we were picking the ball out of the net after Tarvin seemed to run through all of our team to score. We picked ourselves up though and started to play our game – a ‘worldie’ from Tarvin’s Emily (a volley from a great drop ball pass just outside the box) took us to 2-0 down but we kept our heads up and went for it – some great passing from the back, through Harry in midfield out to Jack Br ended with a great strike to bring us back into the game at the end of the first quarter – Tarvin 2 – Arrows 1.

The second quarter went against us and it’s here that I think the game started to slip away – we were winning the ball across all areas of the pitch, but then instead of looking for the pass like we did last week against Ellesmere Port, we brought the blinkers on and tried to run repeatedly at Tarvin to try and beat them; they took advantage of this, and three times hit us on the break to take the end of Q2 to – Tarvin 5 – Arrows 1.

After a few words to the boys in the break, they kicked off the third quarter and really ran at Tarvin – there were moments of good passing, but on the whole we were chasing the play for large portions – some great saves were made, but a fair few scrambles away from goal were needed which showed we were starting to play too deep and too close to our goal. Tarvin made a break on us again and scored another well struck shot, but that was soon countered by a great dribbling run by OMG through the entire length of the field to slot the ball in to bring us to Tarvin 6 – Arrows 2.

The boys in the final break were ready to try to take it to Tarvin in the last period and I think, similar to the first quarter, we played at times our best football; we succumbed to a goal via a bit of a scramble midway through, but overall in this period we dominated and towards the end we did a beautiful passing move that went through about 5 Tarvin players but we just couldn’t finish it off – it summed up the game as a whole to be honest. End of Q4 and the game: Tarvin 7 – Arrows 2.

As always, I’m immensely proud of our boys – I wasn’t expecting to meet Tarvin again for a while, but had hoped that we would be more competitive after coming off our last game vs. Ellesmere Port. Yet again I’ve been told we provide the best competitive match (that’s four teams now – and they really aren’t blowing smoke up the proverbial!) – we are competitive, extremely so, but we need to find a consistency that will enable us to turn the good performances into good wins. It will come, I am sure of that and the creation of two teams, where the same boys playing in their dedicated teams week in week out will only help to accomplish this.

A quick word on the Shield competition – we are now for the next few months no longer playing league matches, but instead we are playing in a Cup/Shield round-robin then knock-out competition. Because we won last weekend against EP, it bumped us up the league standings a bit which meant we have found ourselves in a harder draw! Initially I was annoyed compared to what I have seen other teams draw, but now see it for what it is – when we come out of this period (playing against strong teams every week), we will be far stronger ourselves collectively when we re-enter our league fixtures. Just something to think about when we play for the next couple of months.

To reiterate, I was proud of every single boy today – there is much to do, but thanks to Jack Binns, Sam, Harry, Elliott, Max, Oliver Wrigley, Tom, OMG and Jack Broadhurst for collectively trying to be as competitive as possible and trying to push us on.

Finally - 13 out of 14 boys are available next week, against a team that currently sits in the middle league – it’s going to be a very difficult selection for me – please try to understand this when the squad is released.

Thanks all.

Carl
AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Plans for the U9's going forward

Hi All,

I mentioned over the summer that match-day squads would be selected not for rotations sake but in order for us to be competitive against the other teams that rightly or wrongly are in the league with us. On the whole though, I’ve still tried to be as fair as possible in terms of selection. In addition to this I’m also aware that we as a club have been turning new boys away when they want to join - this has not sat very well with me in that I originally offered to create the Arrows because boys who wanted to play and not just train were not given that opportunity.

Currently within the Arrows we have 14 boys registered and 2 boys (Larry & Finlay) who currently just train. As mentioned there are a number of other boys who have registered an interest in joining us. I have therefore spoken to the AFC Waverton chairman and other coaches across age groups and there is a clear desire for me to create what would be a 4th U9 team that would commence training ASAP and would compete in the same league as the Arrows, beginning in the New Year. I have agreed to do this so have been planning accordingly over the last 2-3 weeks.

I’d now like to share that plan with you which is as follows:

·         We will have 2 teams in the Yellow League (this is the third league at our age level), the Arrows and the newly formed Dynamos. Each team will have ~10 boys aligned to it.

·         This means that some boys currently in the Arrows will continue to be selected for this team until the end of the year, after which they will transition to the new team.

·         Both teams will train side by side at the County Offices on a Friday evening. We will likely move to a bigger pitch and share costs between the two (like we did with the Rockets last season).

·         This format means that every boy will be selected to play automatically each week – the only reason for not playing will be down to a players own availability.

·         This means that ~20 boys will be playing competitive football each weekend from the New Year.

·         It is anticipated that progression within each squad will grow at a greater rate than as it stands today – this is due to training together in the respective teams and playing week in, week out in a smaller group.

·         I will organise matches for both teams.

·         I will create and define training across both teams that will be delivered by parent helpers that have stepped forward, offering to assist. I will be present each week and will cover both groups and provide dedicated assistance where needed. This element is similar to what happens today.

·         During match-days, the current plan is for Darren to manage one team and I manage the other. Each week we will swap, but both of us will be assisted by parent helpers.

·         Ultimately, I will say it again – this provides an opportunity for all boys to play each week – it’s one of the things we all wanted 16+ months ago.

In addition to the 14 boys we already have signed up, as mentioned we also have Larry & Finlay – I hope that both will join also. For parents that were there last Friday night, they would have seen Kailen make his training debut – he looks like a decent player that can help us. Also we have another Waverton school boy that will hopefully join us from Friday for training.

Ultimately that gives us 18 boys – I have sent mails to parents that have in the last few months asked for places. If they have found alternate teams, I will look to still seek 2 further boys to bring us to 10 each – I think this then gives us some flexibility and cover for when boys are obviously away. The Arrows have two matches against Upton in the next two weeks, after that we have a weekend off – on that date I’m hoping to have at least the 18 players attend a 2-hour session in order for us to train together further.

One final thing – I plan to review the progress of each player obviously throughout the year, but at touch points in December and June if a player needs to move between teams in order to benefit their progression then that decision will be made accordingly.

There is obviously lots more that I could write, so if you have any questions on this, please do let me know – it’s really important to me, and something that I think will benefit every single boy within the two squads.

Thanks as always.

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Ellesmere Port Rangers 4 - AFC Waverton Arrows 8

Hi All,

I’m going to try to keep this brief tonight as there will likely be a longer one coming out tomorrow regarding intended plans for the U9’s.

The best summary I can write at the moment, both watching the match and replaying it in my head today is that our work on the training pitch over the last three weeks really paid off. Our positioning was fantastic across the pitch – defensively we were strong; our midfield was competitive, fighting for every ball and making some great bursts forward taking on multiple boys with some great footwork and flair, and our attackers buried their chances whilst coming close with others and also linking up fantastically well, creating opportunities for their team-mates whenever possible. It truly was a great team effort today and the game flowed brilliantly. Last but not least our goalkeepers were great – it’s a difficult position to play in but the three boys that covered it today did the team proud.

Today we overcame some obstacles that in the past would have thrown us – it was an earlier start than normal (we were up for it from the start and carried the performance levels throughout the entire match – something we have never done). It was the first time that we played 2x 25 minute halves instead of 4x 12-15 minute quarters – we actually seemed to play better with this format as it again enabled us to keep the flow going. Having a match day squad of 9 has also worked better than when taking 10; it enables the boys playing to get more time on the pitch and less swapping and changing around.

It’s interesting that out of the three teams we have played so far that should be in our league (Blacon, Princes Villa and Ellesmere Port) we have won two and lost the one – that’s a great measure of where we are and how we have improved and I actually think that the last four weeks or so that we have played the teams that should be in a higher league (Groves, Malpas and Tarvin) has actually helped us to raise our game to an extent.

All the boys seemed really happy coming off the pitch today – a call out has to go to the four boys that scored today: Oli Wrigley with 2, OMG with 1 (a blistering run from defence to slot it home with confidence), Tom with a welcome 2 goals and Jack Broadhurst with 3, including a great headed effort!

Jack Binns, Henry and Sam Curtis in Midfield, along with Elliott and OMG in Defence (I went for two there today and it paid dividends!) and Oscar, Jack Binns and Sam Curtis in Goal all deserve a well done.

The next two games are interesting – first up is Upton Jaguars who were in our league last year and always give us a good game, and following that are the new Upton Wildcats who were the Upton Dev squad last year and have been finding it difficult so far (just like we did last year) – both matches will throw up different challenges I’m sure.

As mentioned, this was a brief one so I’m going to leave it there – please look out for the U9 mail that should be out tomorrow.

Thanks all.

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Tarvin 8 - Waverton Arrows 3

Hi All,

A really pleasing, yet frustrating match on Saturday in equal measure can best describe the game. Tarvin had three teams in the mid-Cheshire league last season and over the Christmas period we played their middle and lower teams and beat them 3-0 and 9-0 respectively. At the same time, their top team and middle team played the Rockets and Tarvin won and drew these two games respectively so that needs to be understood and appreciated; as can be expected from the season so far, Tarvin have entered their Top team into our league, so we again need to keep that in mind when looking at the overall performance.

Q1 started and for 10 of the first 15 minutes we absolutely dominated Tarvin - they did not know how to handle us; our control on the ball and passing was exceptional - the boys really brought forward the training we did so well on the Friday night before. Their coach was visibly and verbally shaken - he wasn't expecting this! I said to Darren that this is what we are capable of and this is how we can play (albeit our shots were either just narrowly wide or hitting the post) - this was just before the tide turned... Tarvin literally had three breaks on us in the last 5 minutes and each one resulted in a goal - yet again we succumbed to the double sucker punch of not being able to finish our chances and then getting no luck when the opposition hit their opportunities against us. End of Q1: Tarvin 3 - Waverton 0.

Q2 began and a few subs were made - from the start we seemed to play within ourselves and our decision making wasn't what it should be with us spending too long on the ball instead of making the pass which inevitably invited Tarvin to pressure us and more often than not win the ball which they made us pay for by scoring another three goals. Before those additional strikes though we did do a beautiful passing move that resulted in Jack Broadhurst scoring a really well taken goal. End of Q2: Tarvin 6 - Waverton 1.

Q3 was underway and we were still played well within ourselves - our positioning just wasn't right and we were starting to be dragged out of position - something that has really damaged us in the previous 2 games. Tarvin cut through us as one point, taking full advantage of this and scored again. After the resultant kick off our boys seemed to get quite invigorated (I think the Tarvin boys were being quite vocal at this point - both on and off the pitch, which seemed to spur our boys on) and a fantastic shot from the left wing by Jack Binns went into the goal to give us a slither of hope back into the game. Unfortunately though, towards the end of this quarter, the Tarvin attack bore down on our goal and we gave away a penalty which they scored to take them to End Q3: Tarvin 8 - Waverton 2. One real highlight at the end though was when Tarvin were getting ready to take their penalty, Oscar (in goal), started to channel Bruce Grobbelaar which is exactly the right thing to do - well played Oscar and unlucky!

We started Q4 and we finally started to play like we did in Q1 - we dominated Tarvin again (believe me the opposition were not backing off) - our passing was fantastic and we had so many chances on goal, but yet again we just could not consistently finish (guess what we are going to be doing on Friday!) At one point though Oliver Golding burst through the midfield, took on a couple of the Tarvin players and buried it into the net to take us to a final scoreline of: Tarvin 8 - Waverton 3.

I started the report by saying I was pleased, yet frustrated - pleased that the tweak in formation is really working in terms of us using and attacking the ball so confidently now and the boys aren't rooted to the spot like we were against Malpas. Pleased as well that our wide midfielders are running with the ball and creating some fantastic crosses into the box. Frustrated in that we couldn't continue our dominance of the first quarter in the second and third periods and only got it back in the final quarter when it was by that time a massive up-hill struggle (we certainly tried though which was great to see in itself!)

Overall I can see where we have improved and also where focus needs to be applied which is what its all about. I'm looking forward to Friday, although training after the last day of half-term has historically been difficult - we will need parental support I'm sure!

Thanks as always.

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Princes Villa Colts 5 - Waverton Arrows 1

Hi All,

A really competitive game, played against a PV team that have some really individually talented boys but a game that also had masses of luck (good and bad) at both ends of the field.

We started off with us utilising a slightly revised, but important, formation change that I hoped would enable the boys to feel more confident in playing up the pitch, and the boys took to it fantastically - we passed the ball very well in that first quarter, with a few unsuccessful shots on their goal, but PV's first two breaks on us resulted in two goals to take the wind out of us a bit. Jack Broadhurst in goal for the first three quarters today, made a great save towards the end of the first period - really pushing the ball around the post to keep the score at something that we could work with. End Q1: PV 2 - Arrows 0.

Q2 began and we completely dominated the play - our movement was even better than before on the whole and our passing was great; our defence and goalkeeping were solid but the only thing that wouldn't click for us was our striking - we hit the post a couple of times, placed their goalkeeper under immense pressure and narrowly shot wide more times than I care to mention! Every time PV had a sniff of the ball we were on them and regained it - it was a great period of play for us. End Q2: PV 2 - Arrows 0.

The third quarter kicked off and we did invite pressure on us at times, but overall we dealt with it well - again we looked really comfortable on the ball and were passing it to both Left and Right Midfield accurately and stretching PV at times. We had a great break at one point which started with Oli Wrigley who passed to Sam Curtis who in turn crossed it over to Jack Binns who slotted it home to take us to 2-1. Myself and Darren really thought that we were back in it then, but within a minute or two from kick off, PV split our team with a great passing move and finished well to restore their two-goal advantage. Towards the end of the quarter PV hit a fortuitous ball which took a really odd bounce and looped over Jack to take the score at the end of Q3 to PV 4 - Arrows 1.

Q4 kicked off and we played well again, but once or twice we started to play a bit deep which put us under unnecessary pressure and one of these instances resulted in some confusion in our box with PV happily jumping on the opportunity to score again and taking the result to its conclusion of PV 5 - Arrows 1.

I have to say, I'm really happy with the boys today, despite the loss - our results from last season against PV were 5-1, 5-1, 8-5 and 4-1 so you could argue that on the whole we are fairly consistent against this team! However we have a real opportunity to close the gap on them, by being slightly more focussed at times and also to sharpen up in front of goal - something that we can definitely work on in training over the next few weeks.

Finally Ryan, the PV coach came over to talk to me towards the end of the match and commented that we are by far the best team he has come across in terms of pressing the ball and smothering the opportunities for the opposition - I take great pride in this as its an area we've really worked on in the last nine months or so - we just need to become more clinical in our finishing!

Next up is Tarvin who, from what I can make out have entered one team (their strongest out of three) into our league - PV lost 6-1 to them last week so we need to be ready for yet another very competitive match.

See you Friday.

Thanks,

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Waverton Arrows 0 - Malpas Blacks 7

My original mail is included below, but I was sent a text last night from the Malpas coach to say that he thought we had overall played really well as the team we played today had a match versus the Waverton Jets (top league) at the end of last season and beat them by ~3 goals which likely, knowing John, means more. He also informed me that Malpas beat last weekends opponents 28-0, so whilst I can honestly feel a little better now, I still think there is some important learning to be had... From a league perspective though, this is now two weeks in a row that we have played teams that really shouldn't of been pitched against us, however this is a problem that the league has caused (there were supposed to be four leagues, not three this year) so I'll be bringing this up in early November at the next league meeting.

Original mail:

Ultimately a really disappointing morning where we started off well like last week, but as the game went on we invited all sorts of pressure onto ourselves which Malpas happily punished us for.

Q1 started really well, with us pushing the ball around nicely - a few breaks from Malpas were dealt with comfortably by the team and the shots that were made against us were well handled with Oscar making a controlled return in goal. Towards the end though, one of these breaks did split our defence and Malpas went into the break 1-0 up.

Q2 began and immediately we started to fall back quite a bit, our defence was playing within yards of goal and that then dragged our midfield players towards the halfway line and any passes up to our forwards pretty much ended up being intercepted by Malpas who were now starting to get into their rhythm and hit us with two further goals. End of Q2: Arrows 0 - Malpas 3.

Before Q3 started, I had a long talk about using our positioning better, and that we needed to stop being dragged into areas that we shouldn't be in - what I meant by this was that Defence shouldn't really be in the opposition half, and Attackers shouldn't find themselves behind our Defence! What seems clear now is that the boys seemed to think I was telling them to not really move from a particular spot as we spent most of this quarter rooted right in front of goal which blinded our keeper and obviously just invited pressure again from the opposition and at times even more than before; we really were punished in this section by four further goals, whereas at the beginning of it I honestly thought we could get back into the game. End of Q3: Arrows 0 - Malpas 7.

Before the final quarter - I asked the boys to refocus and try to win this last section of the game; to remember what we used to say last season, quite simply 'When we lose the ball, we hunt it down and win it back quickly' - we actually did play relatively well in this last period - our passing improved and elements of the squad really tried to push forward. We had great chances from Sam Curtis, Tom, Jack Broadhurst and towards the very end, Jack Binns but each shot either went just over/wide or directly to the keeper. A great shot from Malpas after an impressive move hit the side-netting when most parents I think thought it had gone in, but Oscar had it well covered. The match ended as it did in the third quarter: End of Q4: Arrows 0 - Malpas 7.

Looking back over the match, which I've done for most of the day to be honest (!) we just seemed generally quite lethargic and not willing to really chase down that ball to win it back, or to take it past a Malpas player when we did have it. There are some exceptions to this, but generally its something we've really got to turn around. I'll talk to the boys about positioning and what it means again, i.e. not being rooted! on Friday.

I think the last two games have been really interesting, for different reasons, and sets us up well for next week, which will undoubtedly be an ultra-competitive, but hopefully one that is played with good intentions and in the right manner/spirit. I will send out the squad tomorrow - thanks everyone for providing your availability.

See you Friday.

Carl
AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Groves FC 7 - AFC Waverton Arrows 0

Back in the rain, against a team that to be honest are at a much higher level than us at the moment...

Regarding Groves FC - they were in the 'B' League last season (the one above us) and were very competitive; the Waverton Rockets couldn't beat them across several attempts. Groves also played one of the Upton teams in our league last week and beat them 14-1 so this match has to be taken with this context in mind. The likelihood is that they will move back up to the middle league later in the year.

To the game and we actually started extremely brightly; keeping our composure and our positions and releasing the ball to our attackers quickly and accurately - the size of the pitch was massive though (it was move like a 9v9 pitch) and over the course of the game it did have an adverse effect on the boys. End of Q1 was a well fought Groves 0 - Arrows 0.

I made a few changes in Q2 (looking back too many to be honest - more on changes later) and Groves really upped their game and the pressure on our defenders was starting to show. Two relatively quick goals made our heads drop a bit and we went into the break at the end of Q2: Groves 2 - Arrows 0.

Q3 began and the rain was really starting to come down now - this made the grass and the ball very greasy, but it was the same for both teams so we shouldn't use that as an excuse. Groves were in their stride now and really  punished us in this quarter, dragging the boys out of position and hitting us in the open spaces left behind resulting in 3 further goals with no reply from us. End of Q3: Groves 5 - Arrows 0.

I asked the boys before going back out for the final quarter to remember just how well we had played against Blacon two weeks earlier and to go out and try to recreate that in this final period. The boys really went for it and we finally started to play like I wanted us too - we were strong on the ball (like at Blacon) and we were really putting their defence and goalkeeper under considerable pressure, but huge respect to their goalkeeper - he was really on it today, especially in that final period and absolutely nothing was getting past him. We had so many efforts but unfortunately it wasn't to be. With our boys going for it, a few holes opened up again and we were hit with two further goals by Groves to take us to the end of the quarter and the match, Groves 7 - Arrows 0.

I said to the boys afterwards that I wasn't too disheartened by the result knowing what I did regarding Groves prior to the match - it gave us more exposure to a team that have been playing at a higher level for more than two seasons now. We do need to work on a few things though - keeping our concentration and being disciplined in our positions is vital now - we can't afford for players to drift as it completely unbalances the team - I'll be working on that again this week in training.

Regarding changes during matches - I will be implementing something different over the next 4-6 games, and then if positive we will continue going forward. Rather than make wholesale changes in each quarter, the boys starting the match will continue throughout and will come off if something isn't working that day or they need some time to rest, for me to talk to them 1-2-1 regarding tactics/positioning, etc. A lot of other teams do this already but I've been trying to rotate as many boys as possible still, but we really need to move away from that now (as mentioned at the end of last season). All boys selected for a match will see game time with subs made during match play to make it all a bit more fluid.

Malpas is next up on Saturday - this should be a home fixture but will confirm early next week.

Match Report: Blacon Youth 5 - Waverton Arrows 9

Our first league match - and an emphatic win against a team we have played many times but never won, until now...

A fantastic game by both teams that had a bit of everything from our boys today, really incorporating all areas we've trained on over the last few weeks, and in particular last Friday.

We did start off sluggish (we really need to try to address this!) and Blacon capitalised on it to score three fairly quick goals. We kept calm though and saw out the quarter keeping it to Blacon 3 - Arrows 0.

Making some slight changes in Q2 paid dividends - our boys seemed to begin to get into their stride and we started to really play our game - we did what Blacon had done to us in the first period; we were winning our challenges and our passing improved considerably - Jack Broadhurst, and an Own Goal from great pressure by our boys and a great reactive shot by Sam Curtis brought us level at the break - Blacon 3 - Arrows 3.

At the start of the third quarter, Blacon began as they had in the first - we started to play on the back foot a bit which just invited them onto us and it was during this very brief passage of play that we conceded two further goals. We quickly sorted ourselves out though and from this moment on to the very end we absolutely dominated Blacon. Our passing was really expansive and we were using the full extent of the large pitch which was really pleasing to see.  We scored three goals during this period, from Oliver Wrigley and two from Jack Binns. Blacon 5 - Arrows 6.

The final quarter and the boys were getting a bit over excited saying the game was won! I had to calm them down a bit, reminding them just how dangerous Blacon can be on the break and how important it was to stay focussed and keep to our positions. How they handled themselves in that last quarter was simply exceptional - we pushed the ball into Blacon's half every time we had it and attacked, attacked, attacked! When we lost the ball we regained it quickly and the boys covered each other superbly. Further goals from Jack Broadhurst, Oliver Wrigley and a final one from Sam Curtis (3 in 2 games now!) locked the tie up brilliantly and we finished deserved winners. Blacon 5 - Arrows 9.

I'm so proud of all the boys today; Sam, Jack Binns and Tom in goal, Elliott, Max, Henry and Harry in defence and Sam, Henry, Oliver Wrigley, Tom, Jack Binns and Jack Broadhurst in midfield and attack played fantastically well - I know that myself and Darren are really happy that all our collective hard work has paid off today.

Captain today was Sam Curtis who owned it to be frank. The Man of the Match was everyone due to the collective effort. The captain for the next match will be selected by me after I see the boys train on Friday.

Next Saturday will be a different challenge against Ellesmere Port Rangers at home. Looking forward to it already.

Thanks everyone.

Carl
AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717

Crewe FC Pre-Season Tournament report - Shield Winners!

Hi All,

After what was mostly a wet afternoon in Crewe we overcome many obstacles; being back on astro, playing 2 out of 5 of our games against what turned out to be U10 teams (and on the whole handling that as well as could be expected), using a new formation that we had only trained with for the first time on Friday night, and some quite out of order tactics from one particular U10 team. Despite all that the boys hard-earned efforts saw us win the inaugural Crewe FC U9 Shield!

This is a great and well deserved achievement by everyone that is associated with the team, from the boys, the parents, and my helpers - Darren and Tom Attwater. We should all be extremely proud of what we have achieved, not just for today, but for the season as a whole. This accomplishment will help us massively going into the new season - it provides huge confidence (which is the main component that is missing from our game in my opinion) and can only be a positive for the boys. We learned lots today; communication, making and utilising space, how to handle a completely different game format to what we are used to and most importantly, patience. It was really tough to wait the best part of 45 minutes between each game, but the boys found some fun things to do, including doing laps on the running track! Change is always difficult for this age group, and there will be a fair bit of change next season too, but I know we all collectively handle it well.

To what I expect will be considerable relief to everyone, I'm not going to go into a breakdown of each match (there were five, but I could :-)), so will just summarise this as best I can. Throughout the day, our goalies of Jack Br, Sam Ch, Sam Cu and Tom were immense - Jack and Tom faced off against the two U10 teams and I am so proud - some fantastic saves were made in extremely challenging circumstances. In defence, Harry, Max, OMG, Sam Ch and Oscar played very well in what was a new defensive format for them - this format is what I expect to take into the new season so was good to see them integrate into it well. Midfield and Attack we had Jack Binns, Tom, Oscar, OMG, Sam Cu and Jack Br trying to push forward where we could. It was really difficult for them battling through most of the matches to be honest, but when it mattered, in the final, we swarmed and dominated the opposition and we were unlucky to not make the final scoreline more than the 3-0 win that it ended with.

I'm so, so proud of the boys you have no idea. Below are a couple of photo's of the winning team!

We take a break now for the summer, and will return very late August/early September. I hope you all have a fantastic break, and I'll see you all, raring to go in September for our second season.

Thanks all,

Carl

AFC Waverton U9 Arrows

07896 515717

21/05: Match Reports - Waverton Arrows vs. Upton

Hi All,

I'd arranged to play two Upton teams on Saturday to ensure we had good game time for everyone with the season rapidly heading towards a close. All boys were available but in the warm-up for the first match Oscar was clearly unwell so took the right, although hard decision to withdraw himself - I hope you get well soon Oscar and look forward to having you back for selection. I made Oliver Barnes captain for this match, which he has deserved to be honest due to his commitment and attitude in training over the past 4+ weeks.

Game 1

Q1 began and it immediately was an interesting match to watch. Although 6v6, I'd set the pitch up ready for the next 7v7 game so there was lots of space and both teams in this first match used it really well. For about the first 6-7 minutes we played pretty much entirely in Upton's half, but their goalie was amazing, it was very difficult to break him down. A few half chances by Upton in the closing minutes came close but ultimately fizzled out. End Q1 - Arrows 0 - Upton 0.

Q2 kicked off and the boys went again - we continued to dominate and battle for every single ball, it was really pleasing to watch; we were winning the ball back every time we lost it and our play was extremely positive. The ball broke at one point and Elliott jumped on it, took it past a player and slotted it home for his debut Arrows goal. End Q2 - Arrows 1 - Upton 0.

Q3 was end to end and continued to be great to watch; all of our boys were putting 100% into it, even though you could see that they were starting to tire. The highlight of this quarter was Upton breaking and playing through a number of our players and taking a shot which looked like it had beaten everyone, including our goalie, BUT Elliott came out of nowhere, cleared the ball off the line and started to run with it, and run with it, and run with it! He ran the complete length of the pitch, skipping and jumping over challenges before just narrowly missing with his shot - that effort really deserved a second goal. End Q3 - Arrows 1 - Upton 0.

Q4 began and with it still being 1-0 I was starting to think that we were going to be stunned at the end by Upton, who to be honest brought 13 boys to that 6v6 and each quarter every sub made seemed to be at least a foot taller than the boy they replaced! But my worries were short lived when Jack Binns took the ball, did a mazy little run and finished well to take us to 2-0. From that moment, our boys grew in confidence with every touch and really went for it. Oliver Barnes and Henry were fighting for every ball like I'd never seen before and a great combination effort saw Henry take his chance and belt the ball (another debut goal!) into the back of the net like I've seen him do so many times in training to take us to 3-0. With only a few minutes remaining, Upton crumbled and we scored two further quick-fire goals, both by Jack Binns to finish the match with a well deserving scoreline of Arrows 5 - Upton 0.

I'm extremely proud of the boys in this first match today - they played so well, and consistently for a full 40 minutes, the first time most of them had done that (it was part of the reason of arranging the extra match to be honest - to see how they coped - the answer - exceptionally well!). Every boy played with confidence and a smile (and determination) on their face; Sam Cheetham, Max, Elliott, Henry, Jack Binns, Jack Broadhurst (who had 1 quarter in goal for old times sake) and particularly Oliver Barnes who has come on so much and was one of the best captains we've had so far - at one point I heard someone barking orders, I looked over and it was Oliver telling his team-mates where to be! Well done Oliver!

Game 2

We started Q1 slightly late whilst both Upton and ourselves got our next teams ready and aware of their positions. On kick off by us we passed the ball nicely to the wing to enable a good positive run from the start, however we were quickly closed down and the Upton team put us under immediate pressure, bearing down on our goal but luckily OMG and Harry were on it and cleared the early danger. They continued to press and Caspar made some great saves, but unfortunately midway through the first half they took a decent opportunity to score. Upton's early attacking play was something that was going to prove to be a constant throughout the game, which overall unfortunately we didn't know how to deal with... End Q1 - Arrows 0 - Upton 1.

Q2 began and within a minute Upton had scored another one - we just switched off and let them run through us which is really uncharacteristic of our boys - clearly Upton had been watching the Europa Cup Final this week! Within about 4-5 minutes Upton had hit us again twice to really punish us. Oliver Wrigley, who had taken a knock early in the second quarter took an opportunity, similar to what he did against Ellesmere Port a few weeks ago and scored a really great effort to bring us ever so slightly back into the game. End Q2 - Arrows 1 - Upton 4.

We started to play our game in the third quarter - some of our passing was great, but we were making some basic mistakes as well which seemed to be continually knocking our confidence time and time again. We gave away a free kick towards the end of the quarter and it literally sailed past about 4 of our players from where I was standing and snuck in to take them to End Q3 Arrows 1 - Upton 5.

I sent the boys out in the final quarter with a reminder that we had beaten this team 5-0 on our last outing and we needed to finish in a positive fashion; I made a last second change in line up with Tom replacing Jack Broadhurst as striker (with the understanding Jack would come on towards the end). It turned out to be a great decision as Tom was on it from the off - he hunted every ball down and broke at one point from the half way line and dribbled through the Upton players and buried it at the end to take us to 2-5. Our heads seem to belatedly go up and we played like I know we can - pressing the ball and playing some great passing moves. I did think we were going to score at least one more, but it was all undone when Upton had another fortuitous piece of luck and scored their 6th. The game fizzled out then and ended shortly after for a final and disappointing result of Arrows 2 - Upton 6.

Our team in the second game really played within themselves during the match - the positive play that we have become used to just wasn't there in this game. In retrospect I can see what Upton did - when we played them last it was 6v6 and we dominated them in midfield - this weekend it was 7v7 and they used their extra player to stop us playing in the centre of the pitch and break down our play - I'm sorry I didn't pick up on this during the match, a lesson learned for me, although to be honest, even if I had changed the formation some of the boys seem to be tiring now, which is a real tell-sign that its nearly half term break.... We'll still do training on Wednesday and Friday though as I feel it is still very beneficial.

With two teams playing on Saturday I decided not to award the MotM trophy as I only have one! Looking back at the two games though, Elliott was a stand out player, so as long as he is available for this weekend's match versus Newton, I intend to make Elliott my captain - well played Elliott!

I've already sent a mail out for availability over the next two weeks. In the next few days I'll be sending out a note around the end of season party and potential availability for a series of matches on the same day in July - please look out for these as they will require responses. Please remember that all forms for next season need to be back with me by Saturday at the latest please! If you need to post them, drop me a note and I'll give you my address.

Thanks all - see you during the week.

Carl

AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717

14/05: Match Report: Blacon 3 - Arrows 2

A lovely, sunny morning greeted us today as we started off against Blacon. A last minute change of venue meant an urgent comms effort by Dawn and myself but we all seemed to find it easily enough. I remember playing there with Jack when he was part of the Jets and we took a hammering that day in what is easily the largest pitch we have played to date, and that's saying something when considering the normal Blacon pitch!

We began an we were very much playing within ourselves, there seemed to be a chasm between defence and attack and we just couldn't get on the ball. Blacon could clearly see this and used it to their advantage, scoring 2 goals within a matter of about 4 minutes. Our heads didn't drop though and the goals seemed to focus our boys and we started to play football as I know we can. End Q1: Blacon 2 - Arrows 0.

Q2 commenced and we were starting to break forwards in spurts which looking back was the start of things to come. Blacon were using their physical advantage in terms of height to try to stamp their mark on the game (but in a good way if that makes sense - NO PV behaviour here!), but we were dealing with it well. However, a rare corner to Blacon saw the resultant ball go through two of our boys straight to a Blacon player who tapped it home for a score of Q2: Blacon 3 - Arrows 0.

We began Q3 with some changes to the team, but we went again. Every kick of the ball that we had seemed to make us more confident, whilst at the same time making Blacon more nervous - we were pushing the ball around really well now and our play was fantastic. Our opening goal came from a great piece of play; the build up was exceptional, splitting the Blacon defence and Jack Broadhurst moved the ball out towards the far post which the Blacon GK followed, but then Jack turned on the ball, set himself up quickly and hit an amazing goal (with his left foot nonetheless!), leaving the Blacon GK clearly trying to understand what had just happened. Jack took an injury shortly after and Sam Cheetham came on and within seconds he was getting forwards, attacking the ball and going for goal when possible; this was just a part of the team effort that I was seeing from the touchline today and it made me feel very happy indeed. End Q3: Blacon 3 - Arrows 1.

Q4 started and despite the size of the pitch, how tired the boys were and the rising temperature, we absolutely pummelled Blacon - we swarmed all over them - they honestly looked rattled; their #3 AKA the 'Coach Driver' was twisted and turned by Jack Binns so much that he ended up on the floor more often that not. We were breaking with speed, composure and power now and it was amazing to watch. A great move that involved a number of our players ended up with the ball at Jack Binns feet and he slotted it home very well to take us to 3-2 with 5 minutes to go. We had so much possession in those last 5 minutes with shots raining in from all angles - Blacon had panic on their faces and they were throwing bodies everywhere to block balls and efforts on goal. Every time our boys went forward on the break it was fantastic to hear all the parents really getting involved and cheering the team on. We continued to push and had a number of corners at the end which nearly gave us our equaliser but it wasn't to be and we finished Blacon 3 - Arrows 2.

A few things to note today - sorry for the last minute calls and text messages this morning - Neil (the Blacon Manager) had sent the details to me on the Friday night but my phone only received it at 8:30 on Saturday morning! Because of the pitch change, Blacon cancelled most of their games today. They kept ours because we were so competitive last time and Neil knew we would give them a proper game, so proper in fact that they didn't want their 'A' squad to go without playing so that's who we played today, rather than the team that is actually in our league. Apart from the opening 5-6 minutes we matched them, and by the end played much better than them which just shows again the fantastic progression we are making.

Caspar was a fantastic Captain today; he made some tremendous 'photo quality' saves today and his distribution was fantastic too (as was Oscar when he deputised in goal in the second quarter). My Man of the Match today was to someone who has taken recent feedback well, has played in positions I know he can play in (and played them really well today) even though I know he wants to play elsewhere. His composure and sheer dogged determination today was great to see - Sion will be my Captain next week when we face Upton.

After what has been a truly difficult week I have been very, very encouraged by what happened today and the continuous support from everyone. Onwards we go!

One final thing - as we walked off towards the end a few of the Blacon boys were sat on a a telephone/power cabinet and they called out to me, Darren, Dawn, Tom and a few boys that were with us what a great game it was and well played by our team - now that is how opponents should act!

See you in the week,

Carl

AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717

07/05: Match Report: Arrows 1 - Princes Villa 4

Hi All,

Yesterday and this morning, I was quite looking forward to the match today but it quickly went down hill when we had complaints from PV that the pitch was too small for 7v7 (it wasn't). After multiple conversations with them I finally agreed to widen the pitch slightly and we finally got underway.

We started off brightly, attacking the ball and moving it around well, despite the fact that the ground wasn't great - a bowling green of a surface it was not. PV were definitely up for it as well (in a good way at this point) and you can see just how well drilled they are. The ball broke at one point and they took a shot which only narrowly went over the line to give them an early lead. A few minutes after our kick off, the ball rolled to Oliver Golding and from the half way line took a speculative shot and it went into the lower right hand corner to bring us level going into the break. End of Q1 - Arrows 1 - PV 1.

Q2 began and something changed; the PV players were pushing, shoving and clipping ankles where possible but I tried to keep the game flowing, much to our detriment in cases. Jack Broadhurst was taken down, but I again kept it going, however in a similar position, not long afterwards but this time a PV player on the ground, the PV parents (1 or 2 in particular) started to get abusive. I explained that the one tackle was not as bad as what had transpired on at least two occasions to our players, but this was met with just heightened abuse which now included swearing. I instructed the PV coach to get their parents under control as it was unacceptable, but to be honest it seemed to be a matter of fact response so clearly this is how this team now plays. Play continued but a rare defensive mix up saw us concede another to take us to the break Arrows 1 - PV 2.

Q3 continued with the type of play being undertaken by PV being close to the mark. We were being tripped, pushed and in one instance Sam Curtis (our Captain for the day) taking an elbow to the face. I've subsequently learned that PV parents were booing our boys whenever they went past - this is terrible, unacceptable behaviour - no wonder our boys heads started to drop. A combination of the early morning heat and the style of play being encountered by our boys (and now knowing what the parents were doing) was really starting to take a toll on our boys now.... End Q3: Arrows 1 - PV 2.

Q4 started and we were clearly playing within ourselves still; the whole situation was uncomfortable and not for the first time I was thinking about calling the game off - in retrospect I should, but then again it would of undoubtedly caused more friction with an aggressive PV team. Whenever our players broke forward PV players seemed to go down to break up the play; we had one or two chances but it just wouldn't break for us. PV took an opportunity and scored a decent goal, and it was shortly after our kick off that, with a PV player racing with the ball that we took the player out. It was a poor challenge and it could of been a damaging one to the player; it was so uncharacteristic of how we play that I reacted badly. We lost all moral high ground at that point, but I will learn from this as will the boys; more on this in a bit. In the dying minutes they scored again, to take the match to Arrows 1 - PV 4.

A few things now; please bear with me, each one is very important:

·         Sam Curtis was a great captain today in incredibly difficult circumstances. Thank you Sam, I know how much playing for the team means to you and how proud you are to lead them out.
·         It was the hardest to call today, due to how the game played out, but Caspar was awarded Man of the Match today after some great performances in goal. Thank you Caspar - you are my Captain going into Blacon next week, subject to your availability.
·         Princes Villa were shocking today - even at the very end, when we had the courtesy to shout the 'three cheers' chant they did not do it in return - extremely poor and so far away from the FA's spirit of the game you would not believe.
·         However, there will be teams that play like this unfortunately as we move through the age groups - decisions need to be made as to whether we want to continue. I know I do and think that most parents and importantly boys do too, but you all clearly need to be aware of this. An email regarding next season will be distributed in the next few weeks.

Finally - I created this team because I wanted to provide an opportunity to boys that were not given one elsewhere. Look how far we have come in such a short space of time. I am my own worst critic (believe me) and am not happy with today for a whole range of reasons. I will put it right.

Thank you for your support as always.

Carl

AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717

30/04: Match Report: Ellesmere Port Rangers 3 - Waverton Arrows 4

Hi All,

Bizarre weather, but great game with a well fought and deserved win effectively sums up this morning...

EP Rangers (EPR) joined our league from the middle tier just a few weeks ago and their quality/experience showed. Yet again it was a fantastic, competitive match - something that we are starting to see week on week now which is fantastic - the boys are clearly taking training on a Friday and (for the boys that are available) on a Wednesday and applying it really well during matches.

Q1 got underway and we swarmed over EPR, not letting them settle on the ball for an instant - again something we have been working on relentlessly in training lately. Midway through the quarter, from a Jack Binns throw, Oli Wrigley controlled the ball and slotted it home for an early lead. Not long after that the hailstones, really started to descend and distracting everyone on both teams we called a brief pause to the play. Needless to say as soon as we were all off the pitch, it stopped so we resumed fairly quickly. On resumption of the match, we carried on as we had been playing before, but from an EPR corner the ball took a bounce off one of our players and it went in to bring them level. We kept our composure though and towards the end of the quarter, Oli W took a great throw in and Jack Broadhurst latched onto it to score what is fast becoming a trademark strike for him. End of Q1: Rangers 1 - Arrows 2.

We started Q2 a bit sluggish if I'm honest, but again every ball was fought for by both sides - we were caught on the break at one point and EPR scored to bring us level in what again was a really great game to watch. End of Q2: Rangers 2 - Arrows 2.

Q3 resulted in a few positional changes; I wanted to keep us strong at the back but change our attacking options a bit as it wasn't quite clicking. We were out of our Q2 slumber now and going for it - we had most of the possession but a horror tackle on Oli W which literally threw him into the air and resulted in him crashing down hard onto the surface brought the game to a halt. Oli was clearly shaken (and after checking him out he was okay, just shocked) but he refused to come off. One minute later we were 3-2 up as Oli W, clearly on a mission now, blasted it into the net. End of Q3: Rangers 2 - Arrows 3.

Q4 began and again we went for it - our old habit of dropping off due to tiredness seems to have gone for now, which is great; again the extra training is paying dividends here and clearly making a difference. We battled and fought for every ball - we were opened up again though on one or two occasions and one of these resulted in an equaliser for EPR - this was after some remarkable close range saves by Sam Curtis who kept goal for us today (more on Sam in a bit).  Pretty much from the resultant kick off though, the boys went again and the passing around the pitch was fantastic. At one stage, the ball broke for Oli Wrigley and he secured his hat-trick with a very calm and composed finish to take us back into the lead. Towards the end the ball from EPR (in their own half) went out for a throw to us, but their boy carried it back out with his feet and passed it forward - myself and Darren were calling that it was out, but the EPR boys carried on going and kicked it into our net - myself and Darren followed this up with the ref who ultimately gave it to us; the goal was disallowed and the play was brought back to a throw in as it should of been. It was real end to end now; they had a few chances but we had more - most of the boys were all breaking where they could and having shots on goal - a fair few of them just being slightly wide of the post. The quarter and match ended with a deserved victory to us: Rangers 3 - Arrows 4.

I spoke with the EPR coach who again complemented us for our competitiveness and relentless chasing of the ball - some good positive feedback to hear. The sky opened up again at that point and everyone scrambled away to their cars.

Jack Binns was a great captain today - as mentioned last week, Jack's long accurate throws really opens up play for us and seeing him bomb up and down that left wing is great to see; especially when mirrored by Oli Wrigley on the right - our attacking options are really starting to build now.

Man of the Match today was Sam Curtis who was exceptional. I had to make some last minute positional changes which meant that Sam took keeper duties for the first quarter and because of the calmness he brought to the role he ended up staying in that position for the match. Whilst our attacking options are getting better as mentioned earlier, our defensive play is also building rapidly too and to have a strong goalkeeper just helps to settle everyone down - Sam really played excellent today, I can't emphasise that enough - his fantastic shot stopping (at both close range and from distance) and distribution of the ball helped us close out the game, so thank you Sam - you'll be my captain next week against Princes Villa which will be at our Huntington ground - the grass has finally been cut!!!!!!

One final note - our last four games have resulted in 2 wins, a draw and a loss (albeit against Newton) - great to see a bit of consistency come into our results - its very much well deserved - lets try and keep it going!

I hope you all have a great long weekend.

Carl

AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717