Under 12's. Tameside & District League. Division A.
Home v Denton Phoenix

  Result - Reddish North End 1 Denton Phoenix 5

Match Report: Rob.

Well what a different game to the one we played at their ground. We just didn't get going today.
Denton were certainly more up for this match than us, perhaps a little revenge for when we beat them earlier in the season and to give Denton credit, they caught us on an off day, took the advantage and punished us. They were the better team on the day and deserved the win.

Apart from one or two balls getting into the Denton penalty area, we were chasing the game in the first half. All first half our play was going straight down the middle of the park, hitting a brick wall and putting pressure on ourselves, nothing was getting out wide so our wingers couldn't get anything going.
Denton scored from a free kick, a great strike taken well by their big midfielder, to be fair Aarron our keeper didn't see much of it, he was lost in the pack of players in front of him, (in fact the big fella scored from another free kick, almost identical, Aarron got a hand on the second one but popped over his head) however, as usual he made some outstanding saves when he was one on one with players running in at him, Aarron is always at his best in this type of situation, brave as you like.

We had the chance to pull a goal back with a penalty, given for hand ball. Joe stepped up for the kick due to his ferocious right foot, unfortunately it went low and wide. From then on we looked slack for the rest of the half and went in 2 - 0 down.

Half time the lads were told by Shuff and Stotty to start playing the ball wide, our wingers looked like they had the edge on pace if they could get a run going down the line. From the kick off we pressed forward and indeed getting the ball to the wings and we started to look like we can get back into the game.
Play getting out to the right wing created our goal from a great combination, Brandon to Lewis, Lewis to Nathan, a run, a cross into the box and our striker Kaylem hits home.
Connor was having some super runs on our left wing and with Josh pushing forward we popped the ball into the danger area on a number of occasions. Also noted, Joe's throw-ins were lethal.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half we did well, picked up the pace and pushed Denton back, but not for long, we were caught on the break and Denton scored again. Our heads went down and so did the football, we tried to battle but it looked lack lustre, balls were again going down the middle of the park and hitting the Denton brick wall, putting pressure on ourselves, caught on the break and more goals conceded.
Matty Sharpe was missed today, we had the odd occasion again of the big Denton midfielder going down like a building when he got a tap, and if anyone could have shadowed the big fella it would have been Matty, he has no fear that boy!

Shuff and Stotty quite rightly pointed out all the players were off their game today, but well done boys. Lets get back to looking fresh for next weeks cup game, perhaps an early night might help!

Finally, I'm sure the lads would appreciate a bit more home support for the team, Denton Phoenix had about 20 supporters for this away game!
We had our devote following of 6.

Scorers: Kaylem (1)

Man of the match: No one!