Match Report versus Hawley Raiders (Away) – Surrey Premier League U14’s
League game number 5 saw us take a short trip to Yateley to play what is our derby for the season, Hawley Raiders. Most of the Hawley players we had come against whether it be through the old days of Hook or with our lads playing school games against a number of their team. It was looking at being a good encounter with both teams attempting to keep in the mix towards the top of the league. On a fairly hard bumpy pitch with a side wind neither team really settled well with both teams giving the ball away early doors. The wingers for Hawley looked “rather special” and a couple of long shots brought good saves from Adam. Farnborough them went 1 up when Ryan Mac battled well to regain possession down the right. With help from Thomas they created enough space to get a cross over with Ollie met at the far post with his head to put us a goal to the good.
The next 20 minutes were good for Hawley, and losing possession, shape and a couple of defensive errors saw us leak 3 goals and with 5 minutes before half time we were 3-1 down. Thomas B got us back in the game when from a Scott B corner he headed home from close range with the half time whistle being blown we found ourselves trailing 3-2. A few changes at half time saw Matt C, Callum, Karl and Josh O’Reilly come on and the second half started with plenty of work needed doing. After about 10 minutes of the second half Farnborough started to settle a bit better and were keeping better possession. We were putting together some good passing moves and one of these passing moves involving Matt C, Scott, Callum and Tom B saw the ball end up at Ollie’s feet. With a great turn he beat the defender and drilled an unstoppable shot high into the net to bring us level.
Joe Monk came back on for the injured Tom B and with his never say die attitude won us a penalty when he pinched the ball off a defender only to get brought down. The under pressure penalty taker Ryan Mac coolly slotted the penalty home to put us ahead with 15 minutes to play. Joe Monk then put us 2 ahead when he used his strength and pace to beat the last Hawley defender and slotted the ball home under the GK to give us a 2 goal cushion. Hawley then had a 5 minutes period when they had a number of corners and from one of these corners, Karl produced a fantastic save when Josh O’Reilly headed the ball out only for the Hawley forward to hit a sweet shot which Karl turned around the post. Harry S and Josh E came back on for Okey and James for the last 10 minutes and with Rutty and Josh O’Reilly kept the goal protected. Joe M sealed the victory with another of his clinical finishes from short range when he was put through by Ollie to finish at the near post.
Although the boys started slowly today as a coaching team there are times when trying things will need to happen (maybe we will try less things in local derby games next time). The boys however did battle really well and never gave in. The second half performance was a lot better and a lot more of a team performance which in the end wore Hawley down. We are the only unbeaten team in our league now so we need to keep the boys feet on the ground and keep playing the football we are with a smile of the boy’s faces. Well done to every player today. A good battling performance.
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