Sorry no pics today as i was busy refereeing the games.

Lets just say i wont talk about the first game. We did lose it 4.0 but i have never seen us play so bad a quick list below of what you did wrong.

No one tackled, we constantly passed the ball to the opposition, no one tracked the players, we didn’t shoot, I could go on on on on……

Anyway second game Keith changed it around and lined up Josh, Morgan, Tom, Patrick & Mario at the back. Louis & Connor in centre midfield Carl & Charney very wide left and right with instructions to stay out. Sam in the hole and Archie up front. Saul,Kevin & Frankie on the bench.

First half we kicked up hill and straight away i felt it worked a lot better. Yes they had a lot possesion but when we got the ball down and passed it on the ground we created the best chances. The defence repelled everything thrown at them for 20 minutes. However just before half time. They broke and a cracking shot beat Josh.

Second half we had the hill and after that they had no chances. Connor & Louis took control of the midfield and played the ball left & right setting free who ever was on the wings. Archie was really unlucky with two or three chances. Their goalie made two or three miracle saves to keep a clean sheet. Mario should of buried a chance and Sam could of also had two, maybe even a penalty but the referee didn’t see it in the fading light. LOL

Chance after chance came i felt if you scored one the flood gates would of opened, but lady luck was not on our side. however you kept trying and putting on pressure all the way to end and by the end it very very dark.

My MoTM had a few contenders:

Tom – Sured up the back and tackled anything that moved

Sam – Was a constant threat and a outlet for all the game either on the left or just behind the strikers

But my men of the match was Louis & Connor – They played really well together always talking & supporting each other. One would drop and the other challenged, Short passes to each other then played the ball wide. They trusted each others game which is so important when you play in a team. They both constantly tried to drive the team forward whilst covering in defence as well.

Some dates for the diary

11th May 2PM Spring Trophy Cup Final at Harvesters

1st June 11AM Trials & Training at Bartrams Lane

21st June Registration day

24th June Club AGM

We all arrived at the ground in good time today, however we had no idea what pitch we were on so the warm up was all delayed.

Tom won the toss and we licked down hill and with the wind, the match started you all started well our first attack brought a good save from their goalie. We were looking good down the wings with Carl and Charney and were winning the midfield battles. Sunddenly in the 15th minute they broke down the right we had two or three chances to clear but didnt take them agood cross and one nil down. 😦

What i liked now was that there was no arguing or complaining but you encouraged each other and you got your deserved reward. Carl picked the ball in from the left beat only one play and shot – good goal 1.1

Back in the game from now on we had all the play and 5 minutes later you went ahead as Kevin finished a good move. 2.1. Sam then had a great shot from outside the box saved.  Keith ran the changes bringing on Kalid, Frankie and Saul. It was a stoke on managerial genius. More pressure from us and a shot was only parried by the keeper. Saul followed in smash it home from 30 yards – Opps sorry 3 inchs. We ended the first half 3.1 but really it should of been 4 or 5.

Second half was always going to tricky they had the slope, the wind and were always going to play a high line and long ball. Almost straight away we got caught long ball over the top no one went with the runner clean through 3.2

After the silly goal we got back into the game and we created so many chances to kill it off. We were by far the better team, however we overplayed it so many times.

Beat a player put a cross in, don’t always shoot from tight angles. Don’t try to go round players in the box push the ball out of your feet and shoot. If your back is to goal play the ball back to players running in don’t turn into defenders. We must take our chances and we really needed the fourth goal. They held such a high line you needed to put the ball into space and run on to it. Early, early balls don’t let their defenders recover. I remember one early ball from Connor to Charney and we should of scored.

The chances were piling up and Archie’s grandfather said to me “Its got equalizer all over it” and bang on cue they scored Long ball from the back Dubai and Tom couldn’t get the ball down to clear, there player broke down the right good cross, Connor lost his man – goal 3.3 that was with 2 minutes to go DOH !!!

Still we had a chance at the end but we couldn’t put the ball in the net. The Game finished 3.3

Keith’s MotM was – Dubai who worked really hard up down the left all game.

No training on Monday.

Game Tuesday Ashmole Academy School

Cecil Road, London, N14 5RJ Meet 6PM

Hi All

Due to commitments i didn’t write this weeks blog that honor went to Tom Rackind. I pleased with his efforts and might make it a regular item that the boys write the game review and i will add any tactical analysis. I thought everyone played really well and Patrick stepped in to play a vital sweeper/keeper role. Anyway thanks Tom and hope you all enjoy.

We went into the game needing a win to put us through into the semi- finals; and we managed to gain our first win of 2014!

We started the game strongly and looked capable of scoring on many occasions. Midway through the first half a kick from their out of position keeper fell straight to Mario, who clinically took advantage of the error. 1-0. Hendon responded well (at least one of them did) and managed to smash the ball past Patrick, who had a really good game in goal. 1-1.

In the second half we were kicking with the wind and we managed to keep up the flair we have lacked in the second half recently. We all saw it coming, and after a great move of attacking play and perfectly pinged passes Kevin managed to sweetly hit one home. 2-1. Again, we slightly lost focus after our goal and turned off for a minute which was perfect for Hendon. After some really unlucky defending Hendon managed to just keep the ball in and slot it past Patrick. 2-2. That was the drive we needed to really put us in front. We pushed and pushed until Archie managed to belt the ball in from outside the box. 3-2!

In the final minutes we decided to defend what we had. Louis and Sam dropped back into a more defensive role and the back line took no chances and defended neatly. It was a deserved win for us and Patrick got man of the match for stepping up and covering very well in goal.