U11 Youth - Walton & Hersham Youth Falcons U9s

The Youth lost our first match of the new league 5-1 to a Walton & Hersham side that we played off the park for large parts of the match. The result was particularly painful as we created more chances, playing by far the better football and had more shots than the home side, hitting the post and having a shot cleared off the line in the process. We were also on the receiving end of some very questionable refereeing decisions, but I guess the ref has to call it as he sees it. In the end we lost to a side who know how to play on their home ground with a full compliment of subs. 

If you’ve played at The Arena (Walton’s home ground) you know about the hill. Not quite mountain goat country, but it is a big drop off at one end. We were directed to play down the hill for the first half which meant playing back up the hill for the second half and by the 3rd quarter with only one sub available it was a big ask for the players today. Especially after they had played so well for the first 3 quarters.

Under the mantra of “Keep The Ball!”, which had the players shouting it out at the tops of their voices before the match, we started with Jojo and Finley, by stats, our tightest defensive duo, at the back and they were instrumental in keeping the ball and using our passes to bring Gabe, Harrison and Ari into the game with some flowing passing moves. The goal for Walton came against the run of play and was what turned out to be a trademark boot into the box with the ball finally landing at the feet of one of their players who despatched into the net.

Bizarrely, we were still the better side and we continued that in Q2, where Finley, with a player of the match performance in the centre of the pitch was the link man from Gabe and Eddie with sweeping passing moves from defence, through to Phoenix and Harrison. Our goal coming off another move where we cut Walton apart through the middle of the pitch and a through ball from Harrison to Ari evaded everyone including their defender and keeper to nestle in the net. Harrison was on fire, plucking a ball out of the air, dragging back and passing back across the pitch. Our tails were up and wave after wave of passing moves cut through Walton’s midfield with Jojo ghosting in from the right almost making it two. 

Q3 was our first quarter playing up the hill. Immediately, Walton changed to a 2-4-0 formation, giving up playing with defenders and using their keeper to kick long. We continued to play on the deck with Jojo leading the line and unlucky to see his shot go wide. However, yet again against the run of play, Walton managed to score with a shot through a very crowded penalty area past an unsighted Isaac in the nets. 

Q4 started with us 2-1 down, knowing that we were unlucky not to be ahead on the match, but the hill was taking its toll on our players. We still managed to create more clear cut chances, with Eddie hitting the post, Ari having a shot cleared off the line and Phoenix and Jojo all being denied at close range - the ball was not going to go in for us today. Then the sucker punches of three Walton goals, one of which rolled down the hill from a corner missing everyone into the net and the other two again through a crowd of players. 

It was really disappointing to leave the field with the 5-1 score line when we all knew how well we had played, but this was our first match in the higher league, so will be a hard lesson to learn. I know given a flat pitch, if we play to that level again we will end up racking up a big score against them. 

Ps. We had this message from one of our parents….

While we were walking to the car after the game (Harrison visibly upset and crying)…Two little boys from the other team came up to him and patted him on the back and said ‘you played really well today’. He managed a little smile and mumbled a ‘thank you’ but I am not sure they heard. But if those were my kids I would have been super proud! So thank you to the parents, you should be very proud of your kind boys!

A very nice touch after a difficult morning. Well done Walton & Hersham Youth Falcons U9s 🙌🏻