Playing against a good and well drilled Malpas side who had beaten us 5-2 just four weeks ago, we took to the pitch, confident with a recent victory against Upton and a very strong performance against Newton we went again.
We started really positively; controlling the ball and playing really nice football if I'm honest. Oliver Wrigley, always looking to get into space in order to make chances for himself found himself running onto a great ball and scored a trademark goal. This was followed very quickly with Sam Cheetham bursting down the left wing and producing a great strike, across the Malpas goalkeepers' body to put it into the net.
For the majority of the first quarter (and for the first time we were playing 4 x 15 min quarters) we controlled the game fantastically, but in the last five minutes we switched off a bit and succumbed to two quick goals by Malpas bringing them level and back firmly in the game. End of Q1: Arrows 2 - Malpas 2.
Q2, like the previous period we played really well, moving the ball into space and making some great attacking runs; we were really unlucky to not score 2-3 goals during this period whilst Tom, taking goalie duties from Jack Broadhurst was relatively, but not completely untroubled, having that great concentration that's need in the position to be ready when needed. End of Q2: Arrows 2 - Malpas 2.
Q3 was pretty much an exact mirror of Q2; these games are starting to resemble proper football matches now! It again was a real battle; end to end stuff, but competitive throughout. There was a period of controversy though and something that made the parents wonder what was happening... At one point we had a goal kick which Malpas failed to move back to the half way line for (they were very much in and around the goal area), this was the compounded quickly by them making an extremely strong challenge on Jack Broadhurst (the honest sheer terror on his face at the time made me think he'd broken something) and both myself and the Malpas coach ran on to see him; he was eventually fine but amidst all this the Malpas players carried on and scored (we had clearly stopped playing). Initially the goal was given but then to compensate (to enable the Malpas boys/parents to not complain we were given a compensatory goal). I have since scrubbed both of these goals as neither counted and I want to stay true to the actual in-flight game. End of Q3: Arrows 2 - Malpas 2.
During Q3 and Q4 I had boys rolling in and off the substitution line; it played dividends; in Q4 we continued to fight and sustained a massive amount of pressure on our goal over a period of minutes (which at the time honestly felt like half an hour!) but we held our nerve and broke positively on a number of occasions; one of which was Sam Cheetham again belting down the left wing and doing exactly the same as what he did in the first quarter; burying the ball in the net. The final five minutes were very tense - we controlled the play though and at the final whistle I can wholeheartedly say we were deserving winners - well done boys! End of Q4: Arrows 3 - Malpas 2.
Every single player was fantastic today; our Goalies (Jack, Tom & Oscar had good control and each pulled off some great saves), our Defenders (Harry, Max and making his impressive debut today, Oliver Golding, were honestly like a wall - very commanding in ensuring that the ball was theirs), our Wing Backs and Midfielders (Oli Wrigley, Casper, Sam, Jack and Oscar when the latter two were out of goal) really controlled their positions and made some strong challenges and fantastic sprints with the ball. Purely down to his amazing runs on the left and his two valuable goals, the Man of the Match award was given to Sam Cheetham who will now be my captain at our next match which should be against Blacon on the 20th Feb (remember it is Arrows v Arrows this coming weekend).
Final note, Harry was outstanding as my Captain today - he showed great composure and really helped Oliver Golding settle into the team. Thanks Harry; you've raised the bar on what it means to be a Captain!
I'll be dropping two further emails out later; one regarding the Arrows generally (plans for the next couple of months) and one regarding kit orders, notably socks!
Have a great weekend all.
Carl
AFC Waverton U8 Arrows
07896 515717
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