U18s White Vs Woodhouse Colts Team 3

A long trip up to Forest Town, Mansfield, saw us take on Woodhouse Colts for the first match of the Winter season. Our opposition were a newly formed team, but it was pretty obvious from the kick off they had a good understanding of the game & the match was going to be a really competitive game of football.

Mikey between the sticks, Nathan in defence, Gazza and Coby in midfield & Emin up front started the match & were soon starting to calve out some good opportunities. Gazza was tackled inside the penalty area quite early on but it was deemed fair by the referee. Gazza was able to carry on & was tracking back well when Woodhouse were on the attack. Coby’s positional sense is improving game after game as he was also dropping deep to cover in defence and finding some good areas of the pitch when we were on the attack.

We conceded a goal against the run of play & made changes to the team after 10 minutes, with Eddie & Dan coming on in midfield & Michael replaced Emin up front.

Eddie & Dan were supporting Michael well, and with Nathan playing his best game at the back and Michael making some really good saves we were competing really well. But we conceded another goal just before half time, which we didn’t deserve.

A rethink was required at half time. Mikey carried on in goal & Nathan retained his place in defence. Emin came back on in a more familiar midfield position alongside Gazza, Dan also kept his place but pushed up front as striker. The next 10 minutes was probably the best football I’ve seen from this team and they showed real “bouncebackability” as we turned the game on its head. Oliver opened our account with a great finish,  Emin powered his way through the Woodhouse defence, showed some brilliant skill to evade the last defender, laid the ball off to Dan who finished the move by chipping the keeper & Nathan hit a shot on the half volley from the halfway line which took a slight deflection through a crowd of players & wrong footed the keeper.

Going into the last 10 minutes the same players continued but Woodhouse equalised from kick off. They scored again only for Nathan to pull things level again from the spot after Dan was felled in the area. Changes were made going into the final 5 minutes and it was all hands to the pump as Woodhouse pilled on the pressure to go ahead again. Eddie got a goal back for us with a minute to go with some great footwork to bury it low into the corner. And it took some brave last ditch defending from Nathan to stop Woodhouse scoring again.

A great game full of determination & a never say die attitude from the whole team as we played some great football against a well matched side.

The opposition chose our Man of the Match, and for his brave defending, Nathan picked up the trophy this week.

Well done team!