Youth Reports 2015-16

24 April 2016

Northwood Reds U12s 1  Pinnacle 3

In a match that was delayed 15 minutes due to Pinnacle only having four players at the allotted start time. So when the match was eventually started it was agreed that the game would only be 20 minutes each way, as there was also pitch congestion as four teams had arrived for a 10.00am KO.

This week again we were short of defensive players, so players were asked to play out of their preferred positions, which they all did very well. The game was a bad-tempered affair with the referee having to constantly speak to Pinnacle players about dissent and bad foul play, and this again did seem to affect our boys.

Woods started brightly by taking the lead in the 7th minute with a long range effort from Frankie that bounced in front of the Pinnacle goalkeeper and the ball seemed to slip through his hands and into the net. The lead, as the previous week, was pegged back within a couple of minutes when the boys got caught out attacking and Pinnacle broke and scored as they outnumbered Northwood defence. We came in at half time 1-1 and the boys were told to tighten up the tackling and to keep their shape.

We started the second half slowly again, and were punished when Pinnacle got their second from another Northwood error. The game then did seem to break down as the verbals and persistent fouling from Pinnacle went to another level, and when the Pinnacle linesman was sent from the pitch, I knew that it was going to be one of those sort of days!

The game was going from end to end, with both teams making chances but Woods were not making the most of theirs, or the wrong options were being made in the final third, meaning the move was breaking down. Eventually Pinnacle made the most of one of their chances and went 3-1 up; this did spark in my opinion some bad taste over the top celebrations by a number of the Pinnacle players who were trying to openly provoke our boys into some sort of reaction. Again the referee had to step in.

The game ended 3-1 to Pinnacle and once again at the end of the game the opposing players tried spark some reaction from our boys.

Line-up: Rayyan, George, Ben B, Ben F, Lewis Reid, Ashley, Declan, Frankie, Joshua, Saihaan. Player of the match Ben Freeh

Well done boys in what was a difficult match.

Dave Blincko