Under 9s v The Heath FC

Today was the first real match that each player in this team had played. The result was always going to be inevitable against a team that have been together for a couple of years and had won their all their games up until now.Despite this, where Benfica faltered were in their inexperience in defending. Going forwards, Benfica were lively, catching The Heath on the counter on several occasions. With more composure, we were unlucky not to score sooner. The goal eventually came from Man of the Match, Finn Connolly, who after a number of attempts, this time got it right with a great strike on the goalkeepers near post. The keeper had no chance and Benfica celebrated its first goal. The first of many to come from this team.With no fixed goalkeeper, Frankie was brave enough to take on the role in the first half, followed by Oisin in the Second half - some great saves by him which only lead to goals because we were not first to react to the rebounds.Some great performances by Samuel and especially Art in defence. Oisin showed his quality bringing the ball from the back to start a couple of counter attacks.Maliki, Bailey and Tashan showed great hard work and drive with their inventiveness in midfield. Hopefully, with their debut game under belt, they will take the experience from this game into the next.By correcting the errors we made in this game in training, we will certainly make more of a fight of it against another experienced team in the form of The Hill, 2 weeks from now! I, for one, can't wait!