Young hat-trick seals win for u8s

Cold evening at the 3G see's Griffiths, Mclaughlin and young put icing on the cake for the u8s

The first Home fixture of the new year seen North West Elite academy come to the 3G for a friendly against our u8s.

Starting line up

1 - Jake Barlow
4 - Louie Gilbert
5 - wil Smith
3 - Alfie Edwards
15 - Lennon Young
20 - Taylor Williams
7 - Alfie Griffiths

SUBS Alex Baguley (Gk) 11- Daniel McLaughlin. 6- Gethin Roberts

So we kicked off at 5.30pm in freezing temperatures at the 3G, The home team started off very well with some great moves down the wings causing allsorts of problems For elite defence. After 2 mins lennon young broke down the left and put a super ball into the middle of the goal to find Alfie Griffiths to volley at goal for the keeper to make a great save, the rebound fell to Taylor williams who smashed the ball at goal and for the keeper to yet again make a fantastic save then some how saved again from Williams to make a fantastic triple save absoulutley brilliant from the away keeper. There keeper really did have a great night under the lights. But 2 mins later a ball played through by Williams found Griffiths and with the keeper coming out to collect the ball, Griffiths done some fantastic skill and the keeper slid in the opposite direction only for Griffiths to fire home into an empty net to make it 1-0 to the home side. Again our boys piled on the pressure only for there keeper to make 3 to 4 excellent saves. After 10 mins elite got back into it when a great drive from there forward made it 1-1 before the break. As we started the 2nd period the temperature really started to plunge but both teams were excellent playing football the way it should. Both teams creating lots of chances but couldn't find the back of the net. Young was causing problems after problems for there left hand side and put a few teasing balls into the box which we couldn't convert. From an elite corner we broke with young down the left, he skipped through 2 players to find dan mclaughlin at the back post who cooly under pressure put the ball into the back of the net from close range to make it 2-1. Louie and wil at the back looked comfortable, after illness at the start of the week Gethin Roberts done everything simple and controlled the middle of midfield. Again elite had a corner and fell to the feet of wil smith who found young with a long ball who went past 2 players and then from a tight angle found the back of the net and we found ourselves 3-1. Elite were pressing us but they just couldn't score and were making mistakes. Just before 2nd period ended gethin Roberts picked the ball up and drove at there defence and put a great ball into young who made no mistake and put past the keeper to make it 4-1 just before the break. 3rd period started and our boys I found couldn't get going. Again temperature dropped and both teams looked really cold. We stopped talking to eachother, we missed place passes. Elite got 2 quick fire goals to put them back in the game and made it 4-3. We made a few changes and alfie Edwards had a great period down the right hand side getting past players an putting a few crosses into the box but yet again we failed to score. Into the last 10 mins Williams found young in space on the edge of the box and the goal machine made no mistake again with the finish and slipped the ball past the keeper into the bottom corner of the net to make the score line 5-3. Last couple of minutes game was a bit scrappy mclaughlin, young and Williams all going close but there keeper who I thought was man of the match for them made crucial saves to keep the score line down for elite. In to the last minute a defensive mix up between Gilbert and Barlow at the back handed a empty net to the elite winger who drove the ball home from close range to make it 5-4 to the nomads and that's how the game ended.

Overall a very good workout for our boys but cold temperatures didn't help alot of the boys for both teams an elite keeper was superb and we wish to see north west elite academy soon for another footballing friendly fixture.