Sat 16th Jan '16: Game & Match Report

Hi All,

Quick review of this mornings performances, but firstly thanks to all that got to Goals this morning; especially for the early game - to find that Goals delayed their opening when we were there at 8:30 was a bit frustrating, but we all took it in the right spirit.

 

Right, first game vs. Blacon. I had hoped that this would be a proper match, but within minutes knew it wouldn't be; Blacon were insistent to play off the sides and the ends so the ball was always in play, i.e. no throw-ins and no corners - this therefore would not be a proper football match and we just aren't prepared for this (we don't train this way, and why should we?) and it showed - we paused and stood back at times when the ball 'should of gone out' but Blacon (who train there and are used to playing off the walls) continuously carried on - we had a few moments where we broke through, but ultimately Blacon thrived and scored many goals. I am not going to share the score-line as it doesn't prove anything and as mentioned, this to me wasn't a match and not how a competitive match should be played, but instead we should view this as a fitness and movement training session for the boys involved. I very much look forward to playing Blacon on a grass surface (or at the very least the 7-aside pitch at Goals which is more appropriate to be honest - I dislike the smaller 5-aside pitches immensely).

That said, there were a few things to note from the boys involved in the early session - some good goals by Jack Binns, Jack Broadhurst (2) and Sion were good to see, especially by Jack Binns who had been trying really hard over the last 4 matches to put them away. The two Sams (Curtis and Cheetham) played incredibly well, but the thing I was most pleased about was the continued growth of Oliver Barnes - his best game yet by far; building on his solid display last week against Malpas - he at multiple times took on two and three of the Blacon team and won each time (his dribbling was fantastic - last nights training played dividends!), he had the confidence to take a shot too - and was whiskers away from scoring; I'm really proud of Oliver's performance today, I really cannot emphasise that enough.

Arrows vs. Upton
Our formal league match was against Upton, who beat us convincingly 11-3 last time. We kicked off and played in the positive vein I had asked the boys to do - we were too asleep from the start in our two matches last week and the boys took this on board and went for it - a relative early break from Upton against the run of play saw us concede an early goal though. The boys kept their heads up though and within the first quarter had scored three in reply (Tom 1, Xander 1 and Oli Wrigley 1).  End of Q1 Arrows 3 - Upton 1.

The second quarter was just as competitive and we continued to press the ball, pushing it forwards at every opportunity. Casper scored a great goal and we were in control then, albeit for a sloppy corner and some lashing at the ball for us to concede an own-goal. End of Q2 - Arrows 4 - Upton 2.

 

The third quarter was a real battle - end to end really, but we always looked solid at the back with Elliott dominating like he did last week. Tom burst forward and scored his second of the match, his forth in three matches now - well done Tom. End of Q3 - Arrows 5 - Upton 2.

 

The final quarter again started well, although I could see that some of the boys were starting to look quite tired. They battled on though, but unfortunately succumbed to a fortuitous goal by Upton. I did worry that the boys heads would start to drop, but this didn't last for long as Xander confidently blasted his second, and the Arrows sixth, quite soon after. End of the quarter and the match - Arrows 6 - Upton 3.

 

A great effort today by all the boys, I'm happy with all of them, but I must admit to being especially pleased with the boys faces after the Upton win; they were so happy - it was hard fought and well deserved. Our first proper league win!!!!

 

Next league match *should* be against Princes Villa away; we will see if that gets progressed. If not, then Goals is already booked for two hours next week in what will be an extended training and intra-Arrows match :-). (its booked from 10:30 though (that's 10:30 Rob Barnes!) so not a nightmare start like we had today.....

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Carl

AFC Waverton U8 Arrows

07896 515717  

Saturday 9th Jan '16: Match Reports: G1 - Arrows vs Princes Villa & G2 - Arrows vs Malpas

Hi All - firstly thank you again for your incredible support.

Arrows 2 - Princes Villa (PV) 5

 

The first of our two matches today which was against opposition we had played only once before, early on in the league season. That earlier match ended 5-1 to PV with us at the time giving ourselves an uphill struggle in Q1 by conceding some sloppy goals. How history repeated itself today! We were hit with four first quarter goals which took the wind out of our sails; however after that, in context, PV only scored one more goal in the rest of the thirty minutes game time. We cannot start to do this type of play in the first quarter (see next report for the same); I'll work with the boys to regain the focus we had shown just before Christmas and in the two Tarvin games.

 

Quarter 2 was much more competitive (we looked like we had finally arrived on the pitch!). Sam Cheetham scored his first goal for the Arrows with a really well placed shot from about a third of the pitch away from the goal - well done Sam! Just before half time, PV scored again and we went in 1-5. 

 

Q3 continued in the same vein as Q2 - we played so well and our efforts were rewarded by Tom scoring his second goal for the Arrows - that's two goals in two games now for Tom. 

 

Q4 was a full on battle - PV continued their rather robust way of playing, resulting in a fair few knocks to our boys, but we carried on. Chances for both sides but the quarter ended 0-0 and the match overall 2-5.

 

Arrows 1 - Malpas 5

Another great game to watch, although frustrating at times. This was almost a mirror of the first one - at least all the boys are being consistent!! Q1 was dominated by Malpas (who actually by surprise brought half of their A team to the match today!) - we didn't get going at all and by the end we were 3-0 down. 

 

Q2 and again, like the first game we kicked in - Jack made some great saves in goal and the confidence flowed through the team. Towards the end of the quarter we played some dangerous passes across our box, resulting in Malpas scoring a screamer, so the end of the second quarter and the half was Arrows 0 - Malpas 4.

 

We went again in Q3 and were dominant, we really started to pass the ball well, finding space and trying to utilise all of the pitch. Oliver Wrigley took a great opportunity and scored a really good, solid goal, ending the third quarter Arrows 1 - Malpas 4.

 

Q4 seemed to go in a flash; again it was end to end and we were really unlucky - the ball took an awkward bounce off our defender and bobbled out of our goalies hands - end of match Arrows 1 - Malpas 5.

 

Overall thoughts

I'm really proud of our boys today; apart from both first quarters, we played well, although overall slightly within ourselves I thought. There is something I'd really like everyone to think about today (parents and players) - if we took the first quarter out of both matches we would have beaten Princes Villa 2-1 and narrowly lost to Malpas 1-2. If we can get our initial preparation and concentration on track from the first whistle then we will be a match for anyone in our league, and for some beyond.

 

Final one - most games were cancelled at U8 level today - by doing what we did this morning, a total of 28 boys across the Arrows, Princes Villa and Malpas teams were able to play football - this is at the heart of what I am trying to do here - I honestly hope you are all proud of what we did today. The Malpas coach told me that the main reason they wanted to play us today (and again want to in future) is because we are doing this in the right way - development of ALL boys, providing them with the platform to enjoy this fantastic team sport. 

 

I couldn't agree more.

See you on Friday.

Carl
AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717

Match Report: Waverton Arrows 3 - Tarvin Athletic 0

Hi All,

Another great solid display by the Arrows today showing great concentration, great passing and good movement throughout the team from front to back.

We had some changes to our team that had won on Wednesday night and Tarvin strengthened as promised and it resulted in a match that was hard and well fought which made the game overall a great one to watch. It was really pleasing to see the boys work so well together and chase and work for the ball so much. This is very much how I want us to play - to try and control the ball as much as possible and make most of the play in our opponents half. We've been threatening it for a while now, but these last couple of games have really given us the confidence to push on again.

Anyway, to the match; the first quarter was a real battle as both sides were getting into their own strides - we had some good efforts and challenged well and it ended; Arrows 0 - Tarvin 0.

In the second quarter we really started to control the game, we were passing really well and Oscar, Harry and Elliott were stand outs in this section. In addition, Xander my captain for today, took the ball on the break and ran half the pitch before calmly slotting it home, a great goal meaning we finished Arrows 1 - Tarvin 0.

The third period again worked really well - I moved quite a few players into new positions so there was always a chance it could backfire, but the boys were excellent - again dominating the game and dictating the tempo. I have to call out Oliver Barnes who played some fantastic defence-splitting passes which was really great to see. Xander running down the left, played a precision pass to Harry who hit the target to take us to Arrows 2 - Tarvin 0.

The final quarter saw some minor changes but again it didn't effect our play - this is really encouraging to see as in the past we have got a bit confused, but the boys are coming on so well now. We slowed down play a bit in this final period, sometimes a bit too slow in my mind but the control was still there - Jack Binns took some great efforts in not only this final period but throughout the match but was just really unlucky - the wet 4G just taking the ball away from him at times, but in this final particular instance he struck the ball, took it through defenders, left the keeper on the floor and it was one of those that you didn't know whether it would sneak in at the post or rebound off it - Tom though charging in from the right absolutely buried it to earn his first goal for the Arrows - well done Tom! The game ended Arrows 3 - Tarvin 0.

As mentioned, Xander was my captain today and did a great job; the man of the match today though had to go to Harry who followed up his fantastic performance on Wednesday night with what could be argued as an even better one today - he played in defence, midfield and attack during the game and looked naturally at home in each - I'm really proud and look forward to Harry being my captain at our next match.

I've mentioned all the match-day boys in this report today, with the exception of one that I don't want to miss out - Jack Broadhurst was due to play today but due to some, shall we say, junior dental problems wasn't able to join us - he was gutted, as was Dawn and I and I love the way our team has bonded as the boys were all concerned - hopefully Jack will be back in the next match, but believe me its been a bit gruesome today!

Our next match should be against Princes Villa away on Saturday - this will be an interesting match as we have only played them once and that was in our early weeks so keen to see where we are now. I'll be dropping out availability requests shortly. If for whatever reason we don't play them, I'll try and set something up against another team (we have lots of offers at the moment!).

Thanks all, and happy New Year to those I didn't see today - see you all hopefully on Friday at training, timings and details again to follow.

Carl
AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717