Worcester City YC U9s vs WCT Raiders U9s (Vin Furlong Memorial Cup)

Worcester City Youth Colts U9s took part in a hard fought cup match at home in the Vin Furlong Memorial Cup when they hosted the WCT Raiders U9s team at Perdiswell Leisure Centre on Saturday 1st February 2020.

Prior to the match, Manager Steve Maitland and Captain Theo gave a motivating speech to the rest of the team.

Team Sheet
Goal Keeper - Ewan
Defenders - Tom, Joel & Theo
Midfielders - Thomas, Olly, Max, Ethan B, Toby & Hayden
Forwards - Ethan R & Nathan

First Half
The first half started with both teams battling hard to gain an edge over the other, on the whole the battling taking place was within the bounds of fair play but on the odd occasion a ruthless Raiders team were leaving their mark on some of the more fifty-fifty challenges with a strong shoulder being on the verge of being a barge. It should be said that the match official on duty didn’t deem any of these more boisterous challenges worthy of a free kick.

In spite of this, City were holding their own against an unforgiving Raiders side and the first half saw few goal scoring chances for either side as both teams battled for authority.

Tom and Theo started the match in defence and were reading the game well and weren’t overly troubled, Joel joined the defence mid-way through the first half and picked up where Theo left off being the more forward travelling defender when the space allowed.

Thomas, Olly & Max started the game in midfield and were battling hard against the Raiders midfield and defence. Toby, Ethan B and Hayden joined the midfield mid-way through the half and kept the momentum going forward but it was proving to be a standoff between the teams.

Nathan started the match upfront and swapped position with Ethan R at the mid-way point, but neither player was able to open up any clear cut chances in this half and spent most of their time tracking back into midfield to support the rest of the team.

City came closest to scoring in the 24th minute when having picked up the ball from a throw in on the left, Toby ran along the front of the Raiders penalty area before unleashing a shot goal ward, unfortunately the shot went just wide of the top right corner.

Second Half
The second half started in the same vein as the first with both teams fighting hard to gain a foot hold in the match, but all too quickly it was Raiders who gained the advantage when in the 29th minute one of their players picked up the ball from a throw in and ran towards the City penalty box despite the best efforts of the City defenders to stop him, his shot from just inside the penalty area found the back of the net even with Ewan in the City net doing his best to keep it out.

In the 32nd minute, with the City players still rocked from conceding a goal after all their hard work, Raiders doubled their lead from another shot from the edge of the box.

The City boys were struggling to play to their full potential and their usually passing and movement appeared to have deserted them on a day when it was required to out play a tough tackling side like Raiders.

In the 44th minute, Raiders put the game to bed with another shot from distance.

In the last 5 minutes of the match, the City boys put together a few chances on goal with the closest coming about from a run down the left wing from Thomas. As he approached the corner flag, he crossed the ball to Nathan who was in the penalty box with the goalie coming out to make a save, however he poked the ball past him and the ball rolled across a gaping goal mouth with Olly running in to try and keep the ball in play. Olly picked up the ball a few feet to the right of the goal and tried to shoot at goal from a tight angle, but the Raiders goalie had recovered from his earlier attempt and made a blocking save.

The City boys dream of making it to a cup final was over for this year but they will come back fighting again next year.

Well played Raiders and good luck for the rest of the season. The match was watched by a few dozen respectful spectators who enjoyed an exciting game of cup football. After his great performance during the match, Thomas was awarded the Captains armband for the team’s next match. Thanks to all the City parents for their help and support on match day.