Another Friendly

Today we were invited to play Aston Villa’s academy side, and were fortunate enough to play the game at their Bodymoor Heath training facility. The game was played on one of their artificial pitches in the pouring rain.

The game started with Aston Villa enjoying much of the early play and Worcester had to defend well to repel their early attacks. Worcester were soon one nil down from a cross/shot which crept into the far corner of the net, but this seemed to spur Worcester into action. Worcester were soon on level terms after a solo effort from Tom Mills who bravely won a header inside the Villa penalty area and went on to slot the ball past the keeper from close range. Worcester then took the lead with Tom Mills this time the provider, who slotted the ball through the Villa defence to Tristan Webby who expertly finished into the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.

Villa were by no means out of this contest and the game ebbed and flowed and Joel Chadwick made a wonderful save to keep Worcester’s lead in tact shortly before half time, and injuring himself in the process.

The second half saw Villa in the ascendancy. They drew level from the penalty spot then quickly thereafter went back into the lead. Worcester did not crumble, and almost immediately equalised following an excellent pass from Zach Bowater which was controlled on the wing by Joe Palmer. Joe immediately found Prince Henry who calmly rounded the onrushing keeper to slot into an empty net. The game was now approaching its final stages and as Worcester tired, Villa added two further goals and ended up winning the game 5-3.

This was a fantastic effort by the Worcester boys against a Level 1 Academy side and they should be proud of their performance. They certainly gave Villa a run for their money in what was a keenly contested and physical match.

Goals scored by : Tom Mills, Tristan Webby & Prince Henry