Cala v Watson's U16 Boys Dev Squad

A slightly nervy start from CALA with some early pressure from Watson’s including two wide shots and an unconverted short corner. Our first shot on goal was ten minutes in, but this marked a more sustained period of pressure in the Watson’s half.  Isaac was required to make a great save from a Watson’s short corner but soon after a run of fluid passes through the midfield led to a CALA short corner, superbly converted by Jack to open the scoring.
Further battling runs through the midfield followed with CALA beginning to dominate towards the end of the first half. Watson’s did provide a couple of scares, a thunderbolt strike hitting the crossbar from the edge of the D and another shot bouncing off the crossbar before being scrambled off the line shortly before the halftime whistle blew.

CALA seemed fired up on commencing the second half, presumably the result of an inspirational half-time talk from Tasos.  Some incisive passes from Benny, determined runs from Jack and Ed combined with an eagerness to win back possession from the rest of the midfield and defence characterised a sustained spell of CALA pressure (a speedy Watson’s counter attack forcing an impressive left-hand save from Isaac going against the run of play).  This culminated in a beautiful string of passes into the D resulting in a short corner, again
converted with aplomb by Jack.  The injection and set up, wrongfooting the Watsonian defence, was executed brilliantly - teamwork and training drills paying off in fine style.
It did not take long for Jack to bring up his hatrick - a characteristic battling run through a swarm of defenders on the left wing and into the D, finished off with an unstoppable rocket from an acute angle.  This was an impressive solo effort, but more impressive still was the overall teamwork throughout the game - some fluid passing, collective determination to win the ball back and good work rate from everyone.  Rolling substitutions did not disturb the shape of the team, and there were excellent contributions from younger members of the team (whose names I look forward to getting to grips with as the season progresses!).

A convincing and well-deserved win then, but sterner tests may lie ahead - this was a well drilled GW development team and by no means a pushover, but the full strength GWU16 team will have a point to prove at the next meeting.  For now though, a fine weekend of hockey from the CALA boys, well done!