Match Report: AFC Waverton Arrows 1 - Ellesmere Port Jets 9

I did try to set the scene with parents (but not the boys) prior to the match that this Jets team is dominating the Shield competition, having normally playing matches in the middle (2^nd) league. They have scored a bundle of goals in each game; the closest competitor they have had has been Tarvin who were still beaten 7-4 in November last year.

We started brightly for us and scored a decent goal to give us an early lead, but that seemed to wake up the Jets who started to play their good passing game. As always in periods we were very competitive, but we were hit a few times on the break to go 4-1 down at half time.

The second half, again we started the brighter of the two teams; some good movement and passing of our own was good to see, however the Jets took it up a notch and in addition started to become shall we say more forceful in their challenges which really broke up our play – our boys were getting studded quite a bit and I understand there were a few over the top pushes that the ref just didn’t give. Our heads went down on the whole for a period of about 5-10 minutes and the opposition hit us in quick succession to take the game away from us. We kept going though and had a number of chances of our own but just couldn’t finish them off.

The boys all looked as though they had been in a proper match today and were all happy given the circumstances - I explained to them that if we want to compete and get stronger against opposition like this then we have to keep going, keep learning at training and not be afraid to turn that into good solid performances on match days. Hopefully in 3-4 weeks we can get back to the league and then see how much we have improved, because collectively we really have.

*****Dynamos Update******

After playing very well and beating Upton Jaguars last week I wanted to step up the opposition so they played the Upton Panthers team that beat the Arrows 6-2 last week. I must be honest, the pitch was in a bad way as it had already hosted a game earlier in the morning and it was massive! The Dynamos started positively though and despite going down to an early goal, quickly came back into it from a goal scored from a great corner kick. Similar to the Arrows today, the Dynamos had a 10 minute ‘blip’ and our heads went down – Upton made the most of this and hit us a few more time to take it to 4-1 at half time. The boys really listened to us during the break and after making some slight alterations in positions we went at it with new determination – the second half was great to watch and it was difficult to tell the difference between who had been playing for 2 months and who had been playing for 3 years. 3 goals by Upton (2 were a bit dubious to be fair) with a response of 2 goals by Dynamos gave the end result as Upton Panthers 7 – Dynamos 3.

See you at training on Friday.

Thanks,

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Arrows Match Report & Important information for ALL parents

AFC Waverton Arrows 2 – Upton Panthers 6.

A disappointing morning where we had many opportunities to punish the opposition but just couldn’t finish them off, combined with putting ourselves in danger at the back on numerous occasions.

Before I properly start, please bear in mind that the Panthers are a League 2 team (we are League 3).

This match was very similar to the one we had against Princes Villa a few weeks back – we became tentative on the ball across all areas and some of our decision making wasn’t great, from back to front – the latter stings a bit as we ran an exercise on Friday evening that specifically dealt with what may have looked like overlaps on the surface, but really was about decision-making which the boys did well with. This morning, we did score a goal in each half which was positive, but we missed a whole heap of others – either the post, crossbar or just narrowly wide – we will again work on this in training over the next few weeks, but at the moment it’s just not clicking.

Three things Arrows related left for me to call out today:

-          We are still within the Shield competition structure, but ultimately we are out of it for this season. It’s important that you understand why - we are in a group that consists of 7 teams and 2 of them are from the league above was always going to be tricky, compounded then by the fact that only the top 2 go forward to the Semi’s (why there wasn’t Quarter’s I don’t know) – we will of course continue to remain competitive and look for improvement of the boys over results. This is key and I hope you all understand that.

-          We have a game next week, against a team that are dominating everyone else in our Shield group. They too are in the same league as the Panthers so it will be an interesting match. If we do play, I will look at formation and positioning of players and may make some adjustments to take some pressure off the boys and at the least see how some players adapt to an alternate position.

-          Finally and the most important thing today – I’ve mentioned this before at other matches and it was noticeable again today – parents must stop criticising and ‘managing’ the boys from the sidelines – it is adding a substantial amount of pressure onto the boys and I can see it in their faces, it’s really starting to put them off. They play their best football when they are allowed to just take to the field and do what myself and Darren have asked them to. Anything on top of that is distracting and confusing to a 8/9 year old player. The following link is really important for all parents to watch – this email goes out to the key player contacts, but I would appreciate it if you shared it with your husband/wife/partner so you all have an opportunity to see it. It is extremely important. I will follow this up with a conversation with parents before our next game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLivcha2-ZI .

       
*****Dynamos Update******

Dynamos were able to build on their great play and result from last week and taking on board a change in formation by me had a really positive game against the Upton team that the Arrows beat 6-4 a few months ago (this Upton team are getting some really decent results against other teams at the moment). Goals from Alex, Sion and Jack C-P meant that we went in 3-2 winners at the end, coming from 2-1 down at half time. Immense contribution from all other boys within the squad which are called out in their own match report.

A great result and again reinforces the speed that the Dynamos are coming together as a team.

Thanks,

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Match Report: Groves FC 4 - AFC Waverton Arrows 5

The match nearly didn’t happen this morning to be honest, but I’m obviously glad we agreed to continue as it showed the boys building on their experience and great game play from last week to bring it forward to this match. On the whole we all collectively passed the ball well, made good runs and really applied the ‘shoot from distance with someone following up for the follow on’ that we trained on last night. Jack Binns (getting into some great space today) scored 2 and OMG in a new role for him today broke forward and scored another with only 1 goal from Groves hitting us in reply before half time.

In addition to the scorers in the first half, Tom was solid for us in goal, as were Harry and Max in Defence and Sam and Oliver down the wings.

The boys were quite excitable during the half time break and we told them that concentration was key now in order to progress in the same vein during the second half. Unfortunately this wasn’t taken on-board for the first 10 minutes as we invited so much pressure onto ourselves it was unreal. This period of play ultimately resulted in us conceding an own goal, but just like last week, there was nothing we could of done about it other than to not invite that kind of pressure onto ourselves as a team.

We started to compose ourselves a bit more after that period of play but it did start to look like last time we played Groves and it was becoming a real battle. Oliver Wrigley scored one to give us our 2-goal cushion again but Groves hit back quickly, not once but twice (to now equalise) with just minutes to spare.

In the past we would of gone on to lose this match – but the boys are not only getting stronger physically, but also mentally – from kick off, we passed the ball extremely well again and a great manoeuvre saw Sam score a birthday weekend goal to give us the match 5-4!!!

Apart from the lapse in concentration early in the second half, the team did well – Oscar, now in goal, is getting into the positions to block and is starting to get some confidence which we will certainly work on more in the next few weeks; Harry, OMG and Max again were solid in defence and midfield when called upon. Sam, Tom, Oliver and Jack Binns again put immense pressure on the opposition (especially in the last 10 minutes) to see us through to the end.

There are clearly areas we need to work on, there always will be, but I’m really pleased with what we have done over the last two weeks – pure progression in every sense.

*****Dynamos Update******

Just to make you aware and to keep you updated with our sister team; the Dynamos played Borras Park Albion this afternoon (its where I went to after the Arrows game – a Wrexham-based league team) – we played really well, running out eventual 3-2 winners – all 10 boys are to be commended for the effort and their determination in the play today – it’s extremely positive for the games ahead!

As a side note - I love it that I’ve had texts and mails from parents of both teams to see how the other has done. Ultimately we progressing as two equal ability teams under me and WE have had a great collective day today – a great effort, from boys to parents and also to my parent helpers today – here’s to next week!

Happy Saturday/Sunday!!!

Thanks,
Carl
AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717

Match Report: Tarvin 3 - Arrows 2

The headline has to be simply: what a game!!

I’d created some very specific training on Friday to enable the boys to move quicker, get their heads up more and to utilise the space better than we have done in recent games and it was really well executed by Darren and Tom on Friday night (with Matt continuing to do GK training with the boys – this week with Tom, Oscar and the Dynamos’ Finlay). The boys then applied it extremely well this morning against a team that I’ll say again should be in the league above and are currently sitting in 2^nd place (out of 7) in the Shield tables (they are really battering teams).  

From kick off we dominated them, passing the ball positively to attacking positions and immediately putting Tarvin under pressure. After 10 minutes, I had the Tarvin coach coming over to me asking what was so different about us compared to the last couple of meetings – he and his team were clearly rattled. Unfortunately after a corner kick and it dropping well to one of their team mates, Tarvin went a goal up. That was after 12 minutes. We continued to battle, but after another corner for Tarvin the initial ball was saved by our GK, but bounced out and hit one of our players to rebound straight into the net – no-one was to blame for that, it happens! From kick off, we started to not play as positively as earlier and seconds from half-time they broke us down and scored again to take us to Tarvin 3 – Waverton 0.

After a positive half-time talk from Darren and myself we started again in a superbly positive fashion. We were resolute in our goal keeping and defending, strong in the centre of the pitch and attacking across the wings and attack – we started the half at about 90% and by the end of the half we seemed to be running at 200%!!!

Jack Binns and Tom scored some great goals, but it was a truly team effort today (which you have no idea how happy I am about) – Tom and Oscar in goal were solid; OMG, Harry and Max in defence were resolute; Jack Broadhurst really controlled the play in centre midfield today, covering defence and also enabling our attack in a number of occasions which Sam Curtis, Jack Binns, Oliver Wrigley and Tom (when he was out of goal!) took on and really placed Tarvin under pressure.

The Tarvin team (in the second half especially) were honestly shaken by us today – we need to take this formation, and setup into at least the next few games to see where it takes us – again I’m immensely proud and I hope you all are too.

To Groves next week!

Carl

AFC Waverton u9 Arrows & u9 Dynamos
07896 515717