Under 13's. Tameside & District League. Division 1.
Home v 3D Dynamoes

  Result - Reddish North End 1 Clayton Villa 6

Match Report: James Emmerson

It always sounds a bit daft talking positively about a heavy defeat, but I feel pleased with lots of aspects of today’s game. Let me say first of all that the scoreline reflects the balance of the match, and congratulations to Clayton, but it could have been very different.

In the very first minute Sam burst clear and cracked a sweet left-footed shot from the edge of the box that brought a fantastic full length diving stop from the Clayton goalie, who got a fingertip on the ball to knock it round the post. From the resulting corner Jamie somehow failed to connect with a close range header with the goal gaping! Quite a start. There were other bits and pieces of pressure in the first half, and from one, great work by Sam saw Callum fire home well from just inside the box to get us back to 2-1. There were some other moments in the second half when Reddish had good opportunities to score, again the Clayton goalie had to be alert.

That was the game from a Reddish point of view, but in between times we conceded a lot of possession as Clayton played as we know they can, knocking the ball around well and creating chances. We kept breaking up the play, and defended pretty well although Callum W had a busy time in goals, making a number of excellent saves and brave dives at the feet of on-rushing forwards. The Clayton manager said to me afterwards that their second half was the best he’d seen from his side since their first match.

Where I was disappointed was the manner in which Clayton scored. We had a poor five minutes in the first half, when they scored twice, and a similar poor patch in the second, when they scored three times. All entirely avoidable goals, but we stopped concentrating at key times, and were heavily punished. However, as I have said to the boys, that is the difference between the top sides in our division, and all the other teams we play at U13’s level. Had we played like this in our last two friendlies, we would have got away with those ‘off’ periods – but the big three in this ‘A’ division will take advantage of most of their opportunities.

But I was generally very pleased with the attitude of the boys, who did not give up for one moment. At 6-1 down with over 20 minutes left, many teams would have thrown in the towel, and Reddish can take a lot from how they continued to battle, work, and keep trying. We can all learn from a game like this – I could perhaps have made better substitutions, changed our shape a bit, and each player can also think about things they did well and not so well.

Jake was man of the match for a superb effort at left-back, full of determination and solid tackling. I was very proud of how he played today.

Almost a year ago to the day we had our first ever game against Clayton, and surrendered meekly to an embarrassing 11-0 hammering. We have come a long long way in the time since! Although today’s result was slightly hard on the boys, we have made a very good team work for their win and had them worried on occasions. But lots to learn, so on we go!

No game next week, the week after we travel to Wythenshawe.

Scorers : Callum (1)

Man of the match : Jake