SCOTTON TAME THE LIONS AS OUR U9s WINNING STREAK GOES ON!
Saturday saw Scottons 9s take the long trip out to Kirkby Malzeard Lions to play the return leg of our fixtures in some great Spring sunshine.
Game 1 started with Ethan in goal, James H playing as sole sweeper at the back, Frankie Lew D and Lew F across the middle and (for the first time this season) a front two - pairing Joseph and Jack. The coaches was logic was to try and get an early goal which always calms the boys down and allows them to play their football.
The boys started with he wind, and the hill, to their advantage and applied early pressure with Lew F and Joseph testing the KM keeper. James H was his usual calm and composed self at the back, 'sweeping up' any danger and starting moves off with good distribution. Just such passing play fed Joseph, who powered upfield and layed on Lew F for his and our first of the day. 0-1. The boys continued with their passing play and energy with first Frank and then Jack causing chaos in the KM back line. A corner then came from a shot from Joseph that was deflected wide, with the ball then finding its way to James H on the half way line who tried his look with a power shot that saw another great save from the KM keeper. All the pressure just had to pay off and another move started from the back saw Lew D find the space in the middle to increase the lead. 0-2. Jack was then unlucky; just missing out on sliding the ball home and at the other end work from Frankie and then Jack again was the start of another great move which led to Lew D just missing and the HT whistle went.
Half-time; 0-2 and the coaches kept the same line up going into the second half. Early on the boys were unlucky not to go further ahead with Jospeh feeding Lew F who hit the bar and Lew D's follow up just going wide. The move of the game saw Ethan play out from goal to James H, who found Lew D, who nudged through to Joseph, who skipped a couple of challenges to push the ball to Lew F who was desperately unlucky not to finish the move with a goal. Frankie was using his head and dropping to help James in defense when Kirby pushed 2 up front. Ethan needed to stay sharp as a rare attack by KM saw him pull off a good save. A long clearance this time ended in a corner which Lew D powered home on the volley from Joseph cross. 0-3. Scotton were woking really hard when they didnt have the ball and when they did they were passing the ball through the Kirkby mid-line effortlessly. Joseph went on another dribble and just got caught - while he recovered from his knock it gave everyone chance to catch their breath. Lew D also took a knock to be replaced for the final 5 mins by James E. More pressure led to a goalmouth scramble which we couldn't force and as the final whistle approached a great flick on from a throw by Jack found Lew F who again was stopped by an on form KM keeper. Full time - 0-3 and a really excellent footballing display from the whole team.
Game 2 we rang the changes. Joseph took the keepers top with James E and James T at the back. Across the middle were James C, Ethan (having a run outfield) and Lew D with Jack up front on his own. Right from the off Jack found James T who forced a corner. Jack swung the corner over and James C was in hand to knock it in and give us a great start. 0-1. However, this Kirby team was resilient, and a swift break saw Joseph have to make an initial strong parry, however from the rebound KM were faster to the bal for their striker to lash home the equaliser. 1-1 and game on. Now we would see if the boys could continue to play their football while under pressure. Jack was trying hard to get our noses back in front with a couple of efforts that were saved while in defence Lew D and James E were called on to snuff out some positive looking attacks from Kirkby. Lew D then had a long range shot spilled by the KM keeper and Ethan was unfortunate with his follow up not to nudge the ball home. More pressure saw another corner just go wide from James C while at the other end Joseph was called on to make another smart save. Half time; 1-1.
The second half saw us against the slope. A few more changes saw Lew F go in goal and Joel take the field in place of Jack. Frankie continued his excellent work again at the back to break up and early KM attack and Scotton now seemed to have a little more 'bite' in their tackles. James T broke away again and fed Joel who took the ball in his his stride and lashed it home to give us the lead; 1-2. The game was pretty even with Ethan breaking up a KM attack and then Joseph (on the field for the final few minutes replacing Frankie who had ran himself out) shooting high and wide. Another long range attempt from Joseph could only be parried and James C was in the right place to side foot home the ball. 1-3; but Kirkby kept coming. Lew F saved from a strong KM free kick before the final action saw Joseph again dance down the wing before just missing with his final strike. Final score - 1-3 and a tenacious Kirkby team had made the boys dig in in game 2.
A great day in the sunshine had seen the boys play some lovely stuff. Game 1 MOTM could have gone to pretty much any of the team but was just edged by Joseph more his work rate and no little skill in powering forward to get the strikes on goal we had been asking them for before the game. For Game 2 (and as much for his clean sheet in game 1) went to Ethan who showed that he can always be called on outfield to play with both skill and effort.
See you all for training next week - cricket club at 9am sharp.
