U15 Yellows - Yorkshire Amateurs

This was a difficult game for the lads and a difficult game for everyone to watch. From the first whistle, the opposition had clear intention of deliberately fouling and being, in my opinion, overly aggressive in challenges.  If there was ever a need for a strong referee, this was the time but unfortunately, the referee wasn't. There were no early sanctions and they were allowed to get away with this behaviour and it set the tone for the match. It not only frustrated the lads on the pitch but it frustrated everyone who was present. Add into this many blatant wrong decisions and it was always going to boil over at some point, which it did.  Unfortunately, the opposition coaches fuelled the situation with them shouting at the ref constantly which, gave license for their players to do the same and heightened their emotions further.

Our lads however, were exceptionally behaved and even though they were being fouled constantly, they tried to play football. Even when there was a flashpoint and it did boil over, they calmed down quickly and refocused on playing the game.

In terms of the game, when they were allowed to play football, they tried to connect quickly through the thirds and had opportunities to score but again, we just weren't clinical enough and opted to taking long range efforts instead of driving into the box to draw in another foul or create a better chance.

That being said, we still need to be better at the basics. Far too many times we didn't scan properly, dropped a pass in too short, ball speed was too slow or high and on occasions, to the wrong foot. This meant we spent a lot of time facing the wrong way and recovering from these mistakes. Against an extremely physical team, it was very difficult to win the ball back and progress.

Having only 9 official yellow players available meant that we had to draft in some help, giving some other lads an opportunity to show what they can do (granted not the best game to do this). Several lads were asked to play out of their usual position and without any issues, they got on with it which is class.

We will be looking at the squad over the coming weeks and reassessing where we are with it. I appreciate Harty has popped a message in the chat explaining this and we will be holding talks about what, if anything, needs to be changed.

I'm not there Tuesday so, i will see everyone at training on Friday where we will prepare for our next match vs Yorkshire Elite.

Enjoy your week everyone