Boys U11 Spitfires - Coventry Phoenix

Today we looked to build on our recent run of results - and improved performances - against Coventry Phoenix, who we’ve had some really competitive and close games with in the past.

The first half saw The Spitfires ride an early attack before they took complete control and played some outstanding possession football that was being well defended by Cov Phoenix. The waves of attack were relentless, but we just could not put the ball past their keeper, who was absolutely outstanding today - as ever from memory!

As half time approached and the clock rolled into the 24th minute we finally broke the deadlock. Some great midfield play from Ben, saw Byron released down the wing, where he turned his player and left him standing before playing a low ball to the back post where Eddie had made a great run. Eddie took a touch, dropped his shoulder to take the ball past an inbound defender and placed the ball into the net ⚽️ 

The half-time team talk wrote itself and the boys were also quite vocal themselves about how they could try to beat the keeper again. “Keep going Spitfires - don’t get complacent!” was the message from the coaches.

Out they went and Phoenix clearly wanted to get back into the game with some aggressive - the good kind of aggression - football as the game developed into an end-to-end affair! So much so, that a quick reaction shot by Phoenix caught us off guard and the game was level 10 minutes into the second half.

2 minutes later and we were back into the lead. Ben intercepting an opposition attack, played the ball to Charlie who had a lot to do to get past numerous incoming challenges, before laying a diagonal pass to Archie. Arch took a touch and drilled the ball into the net ⚽️ 

We rode some more pressure, and had a penalty expertly saved by the increasingly impressive Phoenix GK, before we managed to hit the final goal of the game! Byron picked up the ball and carried it out of defence before playing in Seb, who seemed to hit the ball instinctively first time into the top corner of the goal ⚽️

A solid controlling performance against a very well organised Phoenix team. The boys are starting to click again, as they get used to the way we are asking them to play now, along with the new additions settling in and developing week in week out. Next week sees the start of a three week Spring Trophy event, and we start this campaign against Racing Club Gold; a team we know all too well and where we will welcome back Hamish (as a Racing Club player) along with some other friends of the team 👋🏼

The coaches Player of the Match never gets any easier, but having been on the coaches lips for the past four matches… today Ben secured the award. Starting in midfield and not allowing any initial attacks to go through him, he played out our ‘playing down the wings’ training from midweek by playing the ball out wide on numerous occasions; one of which resulted in the opening goal.

Meanwhile, Parents Player went to William who made some great saves in goal - as usual - but also showed continued development by confidently rushing off his line on numerous occasions and smothering the ball - you would not believe he’s been playing for less than a year! Well done both 🙌🏼👏🏼

Players of Match:

Ben: 🏆

William: 🏅

Goals:

Eddie ⚽️

Archie ⚽️

Seb ⚽️

#wearestocktonspitfires

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