A Good First Half

It was a lovely morning for our first ever trip to Prestwood in our final game of the mini conference season.

Our starting 9 was Oliver Foster in goal, a defence of Ben Philbey, Harry Grantham and Igor Chrzanowski, a midfield quartet of James Gibson, Andrew Carr, Kaelin Shaw and Charlie Davis with Elliott Behan the lone man up front.

The first half of the game was a good spectacle. We raced into a two goal lead within five minutes with both Andrew Carr (a fine finish) and Elliott Behan racing free of the home defence to score.

These two goals sprung Prestwood into life and they fought their way back to draw level at half time. Their first goal was something of a fortunate own goal and their equaliser was also unlucky from our point of view as the ball found itself only just crossing the line before we had the opportunity to clear it. That having been said Prestwood's first half performance did warrant them being level at half time.

We made a few changes at half time with Jacob Oliver, Nathan Bosworth and Jack Rollins joining the game. Nathan and Jack both performed really well in defence and Jacob showed great confidence in the middle of the field by constantly looking get the ball under control and then play it off to a fellow team member.

Prestwood did however dominate the scoring in the second half. They went 4-2 ahead thanks to one extremely fortunate goal and another which was very well taken.

With the scoreline looking like it was not going to go in our favour we made three more changes with Joshua Cotton, Nelson Nkanzei and Alex Marranntino all coming on meaning the last 15 minutes or so of the game would be played by players who haven't played as much over the season as their attitude and commitment deserves.

Prestwood added three more goals (one from the penalty spot) and unfortunately I was forced to substitute two players for ill discipline before Elliott Behan scored a really well taken consolation goal having taken the ball around the keeper and hammered home from a tight angle.

On reflection I was pleased with the first half performance but events in the second half and the need to give everyone a game meant the second half was always going to be somewhat disjointed. I was however very pleased with what I saw from some of the second half substitutes and it was clear to me these particular players have progressed really well over the course of the season.

Overall we shouldn't let one half of football (the final half of football for the entire season) overshadow what has been a good season for the U11s with the win in the Haddenham Tournament in September followed by promotion to the Green Division at Christmas. Anyone who has seen our games since the turn of the year will vouch that we are more than worth our place in the second tier of the U11 section.

We now start looking forward to tournament season and next season. There will be opportunities for ALL players to test themselves over the tournament season and next season we MUST operate two teams at this age group to ensure everyone gets enough football.

The boys have done well this season but I know there is more to come from them next season and beyond.