Stourbridge U10s vs Worcester City U10s

Football can be a cruel game sometimes, but for large parts of today’s game we were simply exceptional. Some of the football we played was a joy to behold and shows what this team is capable of!

We started as we left off against Cradley last week, dominate in the tackle, first to the ball and neat passing. We took the lead following excellent front foot defending from Isaac, getting to the ball first, being composed and picking out Tom who held the ball up well. Tom laid it neatly off for Ryan to apply the finish.

Ryan doubled the lead with some good defensive work of his own, winning the ball on the edge of his own box and powering through the thirds and smashing home from distance. He scored his hat trick in the first third after Tom made a strong run, involved Evan K and the impressive Caleb before scoring his third. We were dominant and playing some excellent stuff.

In to the second third and Stourbridge applied some pressure only to be thwarted by a fine save from Ev Masters. Whilst they had a number of corners we defended as a team well and were dangerous on the counter attack. Evan K put us 4-0 up following a beautiful passage of play, a delicious ball by Dylan and a cool finish from Ev which drew high praise from the centre manager. Ev doubled his personal tally when Jack played a Beckham’esque drilled pass out wide and we were on the attack again. A defensive error gifted Ev the opportunity and he duly dispatched it. In the midst of the excellent play Liam hit another long distance shot that crashed off the bar.

We were excellent across the pitch and were cruising.

It makes what happened next a tough one to swallow, but all said and done, and as we stress to the boys week in week out we are not concerned about results just performances, it sometimes happens in football. To Stourbridge’s credit they really sniffed a chance at 5-2 down and were suddenly first to the ball, applying pressure with long balls in behind us and we let the situation get to us. The fluid passing disappeared, we were no longer playing the simple ball and in our only major effort in the half squandered a 2 v 1 opportunity to make the game safe. They equalised with a few mins left to play and the boys were desolate at full time.

Really proud of how the boys played in the first two thirds and know they learnt a valuable lesson out there today. They need to play at their highest intensity for the whole game otherwise you let the opposition in.

The awards are based on the performances for the first two thirds and are awarded as follows:

GOLD
Ryan really took the game by the scruff of the neck in the first third and dominated the game physically and mentally across the pitch.

SILVER
This player is excellent technically but struggled for confidence in recent weeks. He did everything the coaches asked of him, front foot defending, calm on the ball and wanting to be involved. Well done Will.

BRONZE
Evan Kelly built upon his good form and was a handful for defenders all game. Up front he had the knack to find space and took his goals brilliantly.

We continue to improve week on week and the play on show today was outstanding. We are heading in the right direction and our journey has only just started. Well done boys, and remember qualification remains in our own hands.