Under 12's. Away v Brendon Bees

  Result - Reddish North End 3 Brendon Bees 1

Win number 14 out of 20 in the league arrived after an excellent win in a hard-fought and competitive match at Brendon Bees today, and with it the boys guaranteed themselves runners-up spot in the ‘B’ Division. What a magnificent achievement!

This was one of those games when all the important things came right for us. The team selection, the pre-match talk, and then the implementation of the plan saw us play some brilliant football for the first 20 minutes or so. We were 1 up at this time after Mark had alertly pounced following a corner – his first of the season, well done mate! But it wouldn’t have been a travesty had Reddish been two or three ahead by then, with attack after attack seeing shots narrowly wide or well saved. Then Brendon managed a rare spell of pressure and a mistake saw them level things up 1-1, although Michael sprung the offside trap shortly afterwards to restore our lead.

Sam then went close and it seemed we could have the game all but won by half time.

However, the game unaccountably swung just before half time and it was all Brendon. They hit the bar and it was only thanks to some superb goalkeeping by Callum that we stayed ahead. One double save as two Bees strikers were both unmarked a few yards out from goal was particularly notable, and other shots came in which needed decent stops. We were glad to get off for the interval ahead, and Callum earned the grateful thanks of his team-mates, and a word of congratulation from the Brendon manager which was nice. Mark’s mum wasn’t quite so complimentary, though, as she’d not been paying attention and almost ended up heading one of Callum’s goal-kicks which went out on the full!

We talked about the need to cope with the bounce of the ball as Brendon would be kicking with the breeze, and also how we were going to have to battle. Thankfully the boys put in a half-hour of real determination, and managed to break up the momentum that Brendon’s pacy players tried to create. Although we lacked some composure and discipline at times, we were always dangerous going forward. We were denied one clean break by an offside that I felt was incorrect, and one or two great passing moves saw us go very close before Sam crowned an excellent performance with a third goal, striking home from 18 yards.

We still couldn’t relax, however, as Brendon continued to press. We knew they wouldn’t give up and had warned the boys beforehand not to think that they would! The Bees hit the bar again and had a couple of promising opportunities which missed but in the main we coped well, and certainly that third goal made a big psychological difference to both sides. I was pleased that we held them off, kept a clean sheet, and when the whistle went it was time for a very big cheer! Like I said, a great win in a close, entertaining game was a good way to crown our achievement – it felt like we’d really earned it.

We had a few moments to laugh and celebrate together afterwards, and the picture I got of the boys captured them smiling and happy, and rightly so. They had all played their part in a vital win, they were triumphant but tired – although they still had the energy to dive on captain Josh afterwards! This was his last game of the season as he’s away for our final fixture next week.

People have asked me repeatedly if this means that we are promoted but quite honestly I don’t know. We will have to wait and see how many teams re-apply to play at U13’s next season and this won’t be known until late July. In any case I’m not really bothered just now, I will simply enjoy the moment as I hope everyone connected with the team will.
But I will wonder what would have happened if we’d have had today’s ref – who was superb - for that League Cup final!

Next week our final fixture is away at Medlock Rangers.

Scorers : Sam (1) Michael (1) Mark (1)

Man of the match : Callum W