MATCH REPORT - SELKENT League Cup (13th Oct 2013)
On a very wet morning we travelled back to our old home ground at the Marathon Playing Fields in Greenwich for the Selkent League Cup competition against our sister team Junior Reds Warriors from League C and Blackheath Wanderers from League B. Junior Reds Warriors had to pull out at the eleventh hour due to lack of players which meant we only had one game to play. Given the weather conditions that wasn't such a bad thing.
Our starting line up was Ben (GK and captain), Finlay, George, Lovell, Jack, Alfie and Callum.
Given that our oppenents were two leagues above us we started the game really confidently with a lot of posession in midfield with Jack playing really well in the centre of the park placing good passes out wide to Lovell and Alfie. With about 6 minutes gone Blackheath had an attack which George and Finlay dealt with well only for the ball to fall to one of their players and the resulting shot bobbled over Ben's outstretched foot for the first goal of the game. Almost from the restart Blackheath took the ball down the left hand wing and crossed the ball which took a wicked deflection off of Finlay for our oppenents second goal. Despite the score the boys still continued to play well with strong defending by George, Finlay and Jack and several runs forward by Lovell on the left and Alfie on the right. Callum battled hard up front but we rarely tested their keeper. Blackheath then got a third (which I missed) to make it 3-0. Far from letting our heads drop we battled even harder, which showed great character. Before the half time whistle our efforts were rewarded with a goal from Callum.
Half Time : Junior Reds Spartans - 1, Blackheath Wanderers - 3
The boys were told to keep doing what they had been doing, in the half time talk. As ever to give everyone a game several changes where made. Ben came out of goal and swapped positions with Alfie, William replaced Callum, Taran came on for Finlay and George made way for Kaci. The boys took a little while to settle and shortly into the second half conceeded a fourth goal. We settled down and the defensive pairing of Taran & Kaci stopped a lot of the Blackheath attacks with support from the midfielders Jack, Lovell and Ben. We continued to pressure Blackheath down the wings with good running from Lovell, Ben and William. This eventually paid off with a goal from Ben. Callum came on for Lovell and George came on for Jack for the last 10 minutes. We maintained good pressure on Blackheath but we unfortunately gave away a fifth goal minutes before the final whistle.
Full Time : Junior Reds Spartans - 2, Blackheath Wanderers - 5
Manager's Comments : Given the difference in the league places between both the teams, I couldn't see that our opponents were any more skillful than us. I felt the score line was quite flattering given the effort our boys put in. Generally there was some good passing and defending. In the final third of the pitch we must look to test the opposition goal keeper or look for that decisive pass to a another team member to shot. On occasions we held onto the ball just one player too many. Despite the result, all in all I was impressd with the way we played and the passing game we continued to look for.
A big thank you goes to Kerim for refereeing todays game.
Captain - Ben
Man of the match - Callum