U13 Blacks - TNS FC

Playing their first game as U12’s, with two new players in the squad and in our new formation of 2-4-2 for the first time the boys made a dominant start to their pre-season against a very strong TNS side.

I spoke to the boys before the game about how we take what we have been working on in training into the game with particular focus on our formation, how we play out when in possession and how we commit to the UFCA ‘3 seconds’ rule when we lose the ball. Considering all the change it was understandable that the boys took the first ten mins to adapt and start to take a foot hold in the game, but by the end of the first quarter we were starting to tick and went in 1-0 up. Oscar scored from less than 1yd dispossessing the keeper but it was the press that made the goal with our work rate as a team literally pushing TNS back into their own goal with Jacks pace too much for the TNS CB.

This was perfect timing as it gave me an example to use when I spoke to the boys at the first break to encourage them to maintain that level of intensity and aggression. Seth also spoke to the wingbacks, as a new position he explained a couple of great builds for those players to implement when not in possession to bring them into the game more and exploit the space given TNS were playing a 3–4–1 formation with traditional wingers.

Into the second quarter the boys were into full stride and added a second, Jack scoring an exact replica of our first goal, this time Oscar driving the press to repay Jacks work rate for the first goal.

As ever with this blacks team as soon as they take a strong lead the boys start to relax and they start to dominate and the second and third quarters were all UFCA. Ben and Rufus must be sick of me shouting ‘one in front, one behind’ already but stuck to it without fail and it totally starved TNS of any attacks as they couldn’t get their forward in possession. This also allowed Ben and Rufus to drive into the midfield when we gained possession giving us the overload supporting Ethan and Jeremiah in the centre who took charge of the midfield early on and bullied TNS off the ball throughout, breaking up play and moving the ball on quickly to switch us onto the offensive.

Considering it was the first time they had played the wingback role and TNS were a strong team huge credit to Robbo, Silbers and Aleks who grew into the role taking on all our instruction and turning the game to our advantage continuously pushing into the open space to support the attack and closing out the transition by stepping into the midfield when not directly involved in play. This lead to our third and fourth goals, both again close range finishes from Teddy who was always on the move in and out of possession, again capitalising on our press which didn’t drop in intensity and would have lead to more goals but for a number of saves from the strong TNS keeper.

Despite our overall strong performance considering new players, new formation and strong opposition the game gave us things to take away and work on which is good. We switched off for five minutes towards the end of the final quarter and let in two silly goals from set pieces mainly because we played ourselves into trouble to concede the free kicks but then didn’t organise ourselves quick enough to deal with them. Then at 4-2 the boys let themselves panic a little and Zander had to make a couple of smart saves to steady the ship. The boys composed themselves and it was good to hear them talking, reassuring and encouraging one another. We finished the game strong and almost added more goals with Silbers, Ben and Teddy all going close before the keeper made a point black save from Oscar’s header on the final whistle.  
Overall a very strong start to the pre-season which gives us a great platform to build on and a real opportunity for this team to emulate the success of last years U12’s Blacks.

The ref who was a bit ‘old school’ commented on how strong the team was and called out Ethan as his MOTM, great performance on his official UFCA debut.

Thanks from me to the boys who gave 110%, listening to and implementing the coaching from myself and Seth. Lastly thanks to the parents who came out in force to support the boys.