U11 Comets - Goldsworth park tigers

Todays game saw us play against Goldsworth Park Tigers in an inter league friendly . GWP are currently in the league above us and had also appeared to be playing in the league above that at the last half term break . We also played with a size 4 ball where we currently play with size 3 ( not that it’s an excuse but it’s certainly something the players are not used to ) . With out Josh ( pre arrangement ) and Henry and Zaeem ( falling ill over the weekend ) we were looking likely to be down to 6 players  but Alex, thankfully turning up after being poorly at the end of last week, gave us a team of 7 with no substitutes , which were very missed through out the game , however every player gave 100% to the very end. 

This also meant we rotated our goal keepers to give a breather from running on the pitch . Our Goalkeeper quartet of Dylan , Fizaan , Thomas and Will . 

1qDylan in goal to start with and a dominant start with GWP over powering our players from the start and leading to an early goal . 

1-0 .

Shortly after the restart GWP won the ball from us and took a shot which bounced in front of Dylan and resulting in the ball just going over the tip of the keeper’s glove 2-0.

A few attempts from our players but GWP are quick to close our players down . 

GWP run down the wing on an attack with our players left down the other end and unable to catch them but Fletcher sprinting as fast as he can and is left with no other decision but to perform a sliding tackle to get the ball from the player but ended up giving away a free kick. 

2q Fizaan in goal 

Dylan with a throw to Fletcher who crosses from the side of the pitch over to Alex alone in the box but his shot goes over the bar . 

Alex with a throw in on the other side of the pitch throws to Will who dribbles it to Fletcher and his shot goes wide of the post. 

Quick attack from their goal kick leads to a goal 3-0 .

On the restart, comets seemed ready to fight back and quickly worked the ball up the pitch with Fletcher kicking across goal resulting in a deflection and goes out for a corner. 

Alex’s corner goes across goal to Will who’s quick tap in on the ball but again it gets deflected out . 

3q Thomas in goal 

Players fatigues and energy levels are starting to drop and we are unfortunate to not be able to rest them . We decided with the 3-3 formation to give another player in defence . This meant Fizaan and Luca who had been the main defenders and stopping many chances by GWP had now been joined by Dylan , leaving Fletcher and Alex to take the wing position and Will in central midfield/ Striker . Our players seemed to be slow to run back to help the defence resulting in there shot going under Thomas’s dive 4-0 .

We picked up some of our reserve energy and won a corner . Our new tactic ( standing on the edge of the box and running in when the ball was kicked ) paid off with Alex taking the corner and placing it in the middle of the box ( GWP ran out of the box to mark our players but our players where already in the run into the box ) to Dylan and Will  with Dylan tapping it across to Fletcher who sticks it in the back of the net 4-1.

4q Will in goal 

We win an early corner but their defender kicks it out and they attack our end , leading to a shot that scrapes the bottom of Wills boot and goes in 5-1. 

Comets still determined to not give up and with Dylan passing down the wing to Fletcher, ends up winning a corner . Corner taken and directly to Fizaan with a tap to Thomas but his kick on the ball goes wide . 

Alex, with a burst of energy, runs with the ball but his shot gets a finger tip save for a corner and with the corner taken it goes into the box but kicked out by their defender. This then led to a last chance attack from GWP and with a power shot at goal where not many keepers would have saved they got their 6th and final goal. 

By the end of the game our players energy levels were well and truly ‘zzapp’d’ 

Final result 6-1 

POTM goes to Fletcher for his non stop battling when we were attacking and creating chances for his team mates , helping out the defence and grabbing a goal .