Under 12's. Away v North Manchester Boys
Result - Reddish North End 5 North Manchester Boys 3
The boys kept their fantastic form going with a hard fought win in windy Chadderton today, making it a clean sweep in our three matches against N. M’cr. They deserve a lot of credit for this performance, which started shakily but improved markedly in the 2nd half, and a sixth win out of seven league games is reason for everyone to be extremely pleased.
As a game of
football it was very good to watch. These two sides seem fairly evenly matched,
and both sides had good spells of play and had their chances today. Three times
Reddish went ahead but three times our hosts equalised, capitalising on some
poor defending at our end. However, Reddish kept their composure and confidence
and once they sneaked ahead for a fourth time all the boys notably upped their
energy levels and were visibly determined not to let it slip again.
From virtually our first attack we went ahead. Michael’s speculative shot
probably went higher than he intended but it looped over a stranded keeper to
give us a great boost. Strangely this seemed to do us more harm than good, and
the boys conceded too much territory and showed nothing like the desire
necessary to make the lead count. One or two players kept getting caught too far
forward and in the end N. M’cr made the most of the space and equalised - it had
been coming.
1-1 at the break, having not played well, was actually a reasonable achievement. Just like last week, we talked about what needed to happen and I told the boys that the team that wanted the win more would get it. I also spoke to the forwards about following in on the keeper as the swirling wind and slippery ball made catching difficult. And….straight from kick off Michael fired in a shot which their keeper clutched and dropped, and there was Jamie to stab home for 2-1. For a few brief, glorious moments, the sun came out and all the parents viewed me in a reverential light!
It was straight back to earth as N. M’cr restarted, found space on the left which shouldn’t have existed, and equalised! 2 goals in two minutes. I wondered how the boys would react but they showed a pleasing amount of courage and focus, and shortly afterwards Sam’s corner was scrambled away to Daniel, standing exactly in the right place, who cracked the loose ball high into the net for his first goal of the season. Great stuff! However, shortly after this our biggest defensive bloomer of the match – players all over the place, missed tackles galore – gave Mark Donegan an easy chance which he buried.
So at 3-3 it was anyone’s game but the boys showed me and everyone else a great level of confidence as they kept pressing, and from another Sam corner, Jamie showed more bravery and determination than anyone else, heading in a speeding cross. Everyone was delighted, that was typical Jamie! As I have said, this time the team really concentrated hard, soaked up some pressure, and managed to keep N. M’cr from having any more clear chances. When Mark played in Sam through the middle, Sam did what he has done so many times, and cracked the ball home from 18 yards. There was little time left and we had finally killed off our dogged opponents.
I was absolutely delighted that our plans had borne fruit again. Although all the boys should be pleased with today, our midfield three played exceptionally well. Daniel had a great game, Callum B was again magnificent, but Mark picked up man-of-the-match for a really fantastic performance, where he grew in stature and dominated in midfield as the game went on.
A word too about N. M’cr, who pushed us all the way and are a great club with a really nice set of boys and good parents. They will be right up there at the end of the season make no mistake. This makes today’s performance all the better and showed the team that this start to the season is no fluke. And they know they can play better than this, and hopefully we will see more as Christmas draws near. We went five weeks at the start of 2008 without any games due to postponements, and it would be nice to have as many games played and as many wins as we can before the weather plays its inevitable part.
Scorers: Jamie (2) Michael (1) Daniel (1) Sam (1)
Man of the match: Mark B