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
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