S&L Juniors U10 Whites - Mayford Athletic U10 Bears

Home match on Pitch 4 with S&L referee. Weather overcast and mild, pitch soft.

Strong opposition who have been playing together for at least a season. Their coach noted how good our players are, just identifying that we're missing some of the team 'gel' that they found over the season.

We played well but seemed to be 2nd to every ball today, probably due to general positions and not coming backwards to face teammates and make their passing easier. When under pressure possession was often lost. Watch your favourite team in the Premiere League (or otherwise) and they all turn in space to help each other. They have 11 players, but everyone on the ball normally has 2 passes available. They pass much more than making dribbles. we need more of this!!

When defending difficult lobs or bouncing balls we often tried to clear it first time, leading to missed kicks or the ball accidentally going towards our goal. Use any body part - chest, knee, hip to first get it under control then clear or pass. We'd have a much great success rate doing it this way. Clearing our box area also needs to be done quicker, a least a couple of easy goals for them here. This was the objective of the bouncing ball training on Tuesday, we may try and repeat again...

The wins are coming, believe us! We've got some great stuff to work on in training.