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GNE Juniors Blues U8s v Curzon Ashton Blues U8s By Richard Mortimer

GNE Juniors Blues U8s v Curzon Ashton Blues U8s By Richard Mortimer

Jon Matthews25 Apr 2016 - 11:06
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Rollercoaster Blues.

Match Report, Saturday 16/04/16.
GNE Juniors Blues U8s v Curzon Ashton Blues U8s.
Curzon Ashton, Pitch 6.

Team: Chris, Sam, Len, Theo (C), Joe, Billy and Zac.

Another nice Saturday morning for the last match of the season (apart from the Cup Final match on 30/04). I don’t remember us playing Curzon Ashton in this league so far, but I could be wrong. When we played Curzon last season, they were using a rush keeper and after being bamboozled by this system in the first game, the boys had it sussed and unravelled it totally in the second fixture. It was going to be interesting to see whether Curzon were still playing this system. It was good to see Billy returning to the fray for this game.

As Curzon also play in a blue kit, our boys donned white bibs so were technically the whites for this game! Handshakes done and Glossop had won the kick off, setting up 2 X 2 with an opening side of Chris (GK), Theo (RB), Len (LB), Billy (RCF) and Zac (LCF), playing right to left. CA were immediately attacking and putting the boys under pressure with some well organised play and pressing hard as soon as they lost possession. Theo was bundled over as he defended a ball but didn’t get the decision.

The Blues held up well for the first ten minutes and Len was strong and physical in the challenges without the naked aggression we’ve seen from other sides we’ve played this season. CA had a good strike blocked by one of their own players and Glossop had a couple of good early attempts saved by a handy CA keeper. Zac poked the ball through the legs of the CA defence but couldn’t quite get a shot off and Len played a lovely ball through to Billy who hit it on the volley but the shot was just tipped over the bar. Sam was busy in defence and held some good positions to try and thwart the CA onslaught.

CA showed their hand early on by shooting regularly from distance and from any position on the pitch. Ironically, despite the long shots, CA scored a number of goals from a yard out on the back of some cluttered scrambles in the goal mouth when the Blues were indecisive and failed to clear the ball away from their goal line. Not for the first time, the Blues looked lacklustre and not really up for a full on, pacey game of football. As the first half progressed, the boys looked a bit disorganised and panicky with possession being kicked away too easily and the elegant, passing play we’d seen a few weeks ago wasn’t on display.

Occasional attempts on the CA goal saw shots from Joe, Theo and Len saved. But at the half time whistle, CA had been the better side. Due to the wind, I couldn’t hear the half time talk but needless to say, neither the coach nor the boys were looking too pleased with that 15 minutes of football.

The second half saw more of the same from the first half. All of the boys were dogged in defending but this meant that there was less opportunity to press forward and threaten the CA goal. Another goal was bundled in by CA as the Blues were again gathered on their own goal line but couldn’t be decisive to clear the ball away from danger. Theo picked up an injury and spent a lot of the second half at the side of the pitch.

Sam managed to clear the ball of the line to prevent a goal but CA were now rampant and shots were regularly raining down on our goal. Chris made some good saves but the number of attempts took its toll. The boys didn’t give up on trying to defend but the full time whistle went without the Blues scoring.

You could see that everyone was disappointed with the performance and especially as the boys didn’t seem to enjoy their football in that match. One player stood out for the man of the match award – he held his position well, was strong in the challenges, passed the ball well to link up play and was unlucky not to score with a couple of good efforts – step forward Len, well deserved.

So, back to training to get organised and re-energised ready for the cup final. The result of that match isn’t relevant, it’ll be progress if the boys get back to enjoying playing again.

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