Match This Thursday 19th

Hello,

Our home match this Thursday 19th v Tattenhoe Blacks is going to be a 6pm kick off. Please arrive by 5:30 for a warm up.

This is our last match of the season so there will be no rested players.

There will be 2 more training sessions leading up to The Cobblers Tournament on May 30th, so everyone is welcome to come along for these.

After the 30th, there will be no more training until the week before the Willen Tournament which is Saturday 16th July.

See you Thursday.

Richard

Tonight's match v Water Eaton Whites

Not the best that we have played, but in fairness to the players we tried a new formation which wasn't a great success. Water Eaton scored early but we never really looked like loosing the match with the amount of forward possession that we had and we soon levelled with a goal from James.

Water Eaton again went ahead before Brooksy who was busy up front levelled again to make the score 2-2. At half time we changed the formation back to our usual 1 up front with 2 wider players and James soon scored his second of the night to move 3-2 ahead, this was soon followed by an own goal after a great strike from Joe and we won the game 4-2.

There was some solid defence play by the boys, they are really playing well as a unit and continue to be difficult to score against. However, the Man Of the Match tonight was Brooksy with his tireless work upfront and some great tackling back...well played Brooksy.

See you all for some light training and plenty of penalty practice on Saturday 10:30 to 12:00.

Richard

PS There was a single trainer left on the bus!! I'll take it with me to training on Saturday

U9's Shield Semi Final

What a day! We can only better this by wining the final.

Again the boys showed fantastic commitment all over the pitch. We started very slow and couldn’t get the ball forward quickly enough, but we soon turned this around and started pushing forward with some great football which made it easier for the defenders who quickly settled down.

We continued to move the ball forward quickly and gave the Vipers a lot of problems even though there was a lot of rotating. It was fantastic to see the positive attitude from all the players even though they were switched on and off regularly.

Man Of The Match today was a tough decision, Brooksey had a great game and didn’t stop running, his headed goal from a corner showed great skill. But, due to the fact that he was playing out of position and had no replacement and but kept a great tempo throughout the game I had to choose Ciaran...well played.

We now have a great day out at the MK Stadium against Tattenhoe Reds, if we keep up this commitment we have a great chance of lifting the trophy.

Well played all of you, stroll on May the 8th!

Richard

FW: Shield Match v 2 Mile Ash

What a great game of football today. And in that heat, well done to all the lads they certainly deserved to book their place in the Semi’s.

2 Mile had some big strong players and we kept them at bay, special praise goes to Harry (who has cost me a match ball). The strikers all played their part as well, I counted 3 or 4 goal line clearances.

If that sort of commitment from the whole team continues I reckon we have a good shot at the final, we now have a tough game against Gt Linford Vipers next Saturday 16th at a neutral ground (we are waiting for the FA to advise where and when this will be).

Man Of The Match this week has to go to Ben who saved 3 penalties to take us through, well done Ben.

Who did score our goal in the end? Joshie or Charlie..........we need goal line technology!!

Training will be next Thursday from 5:30 to 7pm.

It is our bar night next Friday 15th and we have to cover from 7 to 10pm....thanks so far to Jason and Louise who have offered to help. There wont be enough players for the proposed 11 a side, so I will be doing some shooting practice and penalty competition for the kids against an adult keeper from 6 to 7pm.

Well played again.

Richard

PS Me and Marcus both got it wrong, the Final is on May the 8th not the 7th......lets hope we get there.

Yesterdays match against Southcott Owls

Yesterday was a great day for football and another good performance by the boys, beating Southcott (who are not used to losing!) 4-0.

We didn't give the Southcott players time on the ball, closing down quickly all over the pitch and causing lots of problems for their defence when going forward.

Well done to Josh Hearn who scored on his debut, there was also some great performances from Danny (2 goals) and Alfie (1 goal) and Ben in goal made a couple vital interceptions in his penalty area diving into to gather the ball before Southcott had chances to shoot.

The Man of The Match today went to Freddie who made some fantastic tackles which unsettled the Southcott players, he showed great positional play and also proved that defenders can assist high up the pitch while not forgetting the important defensive work.

Big thanks to Joseph for refereeing the game so well. Joseph is currently working on his Duke Of Edinburgh award and is helping us out with training and match day duties as part of the award.

The Sports Hall training has now finished, but I will be running a session on our pitch from 5:30 to 7:00 on Thursday to work on some tactics for our Cup Match v Wing next Saturday...if anyone is available to help out let me know. As before, I'm not expecting parents to stay!

Richard

Match v Newport

The boys had a real battle today against top division opposition Newport Pagnell who tackle hard and also have some very skilful individuals. 

We managed to keep hold of a 2-1 lead until late in the second half when Newport took advantage of us not clearing out of the box quickly enough and they levelled to 2-2 which is how the game finished.

There was some great performances especially by Danny who worked tirelessly upfront not only proving how important it is to put tackles in high up the field but also scoring 2 goals, James showed that his passing can match his goal scoring and Mathew performed brilliantly in goal. But the Man of The Match for fantastic defending against quick paced Newport forwards and a some great man marking goes to Ciaran...well played.

See you all for training this Thursday which is the last week indoors, we will be going back to outdoor training the week after. I'll let you know times next week.

Richard

MK Wanderers Match

What a great game of football yesterday, in perfect Football conditions we kept at bay a very good football team, at the same time creating lots of goal scoring opportunities. Overall I think a 1-1 draw was the right result, it is easy to forget sometimes that this is 8 yr old football, both teams moved the ball around and defended brilliantly....a real pleasure to watch.

The area I am most pleased about is the players ability to defend as a team and then create space and shift the ball quickly to produce attacking options, our Man of The Match Harry had a fantastic game in central defence man marking the MK number 11...well played Harry!

A big thanks also to Andrew who refereed the match with great authority despite lots of "banter"....the second man of the match!!!

Looking forward to our cup match next Saturday against Hanslope Hornets. This will be at home with an earlier kick off time of 10am, please arrive at 9:30 to help mark out pitch and put the nets up.

I will let you know the team by Thursday, meanwhile could you tell me if you are not available to play.

Richard