Saturday 9th October 2011 – League Match

Carcroft Village Under 11s 2 Retford United Under 11s 3
(Half Time 0-2)

An exciting friendly

First Goal: Ryan Wright (Assist; Jordan Vernon)
Second Goal: Luke Woodward (Assists: Jordan Vernon, Liam Bland (Corner)
Third Goal: Ryan Wright (Assist: Liam Bland (Corner)

Retford travelled up the A1 to play a friendly against Carcroft Village Juniors who are currently third in the 1st Division. It was an exciting game with Retford finally coming out 3-2 winners with Ryan Wright heading the winning goal in the second half from a Liam Bland corner.

Retford made the early running and opened the scoring in the first half after Jordan Vernon had played a lovely ball through to Ryan Wright who beat the keeper to the ball and stabbed it home. Ethan Farrow in goal then preserved Retford’s lead when he came out of his goal and dived bravely at the feet of the Carcroft attacker to make an excellent save. Retford made it 2-0 towards the end of the first half when Ryan and Harry Bates won a corner on the right. Liam Bland took the corner and the ball fell to Jordan on the edge of the area whose shot was deflected to Luke Woodward near goal who tapped the ball home for his third goal of the season. Meanwhile, Hari Singh, Matthew Shaw and Josh Sharpe were doing an excellent job in defence with Callum Jones helping them out when necessary from his defensive midfield role and Jacob Baines tucking in on the left.

Retford had to defend against the wind in the second half with the Carcroft attackers looking to shoot on sight and hitting the crossbar in an early attack. However, Ethan got his body behind the ball and caught everything. Ryan nearly broke through the Carcroft defence after a good pass by Sam Bicknall. Carcroft pulled a goal back when a cross from the right was knocked home at the far post. They then equalised after Carcroft took a quick throw in on the right which was thrown over the top of the Retford defence to an unmarked forward who tucked the ball away to make it 2-2. However, Retford did not let their heads go down. Luke came back on to do an excellent marking job on Carcroft’s No. 4 who was causing problems on the right. Liam and Ryan got Retford back on the attack with Chris Robinson in support. Liam’s shot was well saved by the keeper after good work by Ryan. Retford then won a corner on the right and Liam’s corner was headed home by Ryan. The keeper caught the ball but the linesman flagged to indicate that the ball had crossed the line. Retford then defended like tigers to keep Carcroft at bay with Hari Singh heading a shot off the line and Callum Jones making a goal saving tackle. Matthew Shaw and Josh Sharpe were very solid in the centre of the defence throughout the game and very little got past them. Overall, an excellent team performance by Retford. Thanks to Wayne and the lads at Carcroft for giving us a game on our blank weekend in the league and to the referee who was excellent.

Men of the Match: Jordan Vernon and Matthew Shaw