U18s White Vs Wollaton Hall Yellow

The first game of the Spring 2015 season, and with renewed optimism, saw us make the short journey to Wollaton Hall (although the game was played at Highfields)

Mikey played in goal for the whole game & was outstanding. His long goal kicks caused havoc in the opposition defence & made numerous saves to keep us in the game.

Eddie played the first half in defence. He has now been given the nickname “The Great Wall of China” by his team mates. He was first into the tackle every time & his distribution playing the ball out from the back was first class.

Nathan started the game in midfield which gave us a physical presence & played in defence in the second half & was solid, making tackles when it mattered & distributed well. His free kick right at the end of the match was well struck, caused uncertainty in the opposition goal area when they failed to clear it away, allowing Emin to score for the equaliser.

Emin was superb in midfield, always willing to get back to defend when the opposition were on the attack & full of running & skill when we were going forward.  He had the moment of the match when he collected the ball on the left had edge of our goal area & took on the opposition single handedly, making a diagonal run through midfield to the opposite flank & crossed the ball to Alex who just failed to make contact with the ball as he slid in. Emin also scored the equaliser right at the end of the game. He was the quickest to react to the loose ball, after the opposition failed to clear Nathans free kick.

Alex played as striker in the first 10 minutes. His physical style was unnerving the opposition defence & almost got on the end of Emins superb run and cross. Alex then dropped into midfield for his second 10 minute spell, adding physicality, commitment & vision with his passing. He also came back on with 5 minutes left when we were trailing by a goal & he was the catalyst for our equaliser.

Dan played as striker for 10 minutes either side of half time. Dan was strong in winning the ball off the opposition defenders & was willing to drop deep into midfield to help his teammates when we lost possession of the ball. Dan scored our first goal to get us back into the game when we were trailing 2-0. Gazzas quick thinking with a throw in found Dan completely unmarked in the Wollaton goal area. He had time to control the throw in & uleashed a shot that the goalkeeper had no chance with.  

Gazza played the whole of the second half. His first 10 minutes were in midfield where he was willing to put a foot in to win tackles & always looking at moving the ball forward at every opportunity, either by passing to a teammate or by taking on an opponent. His quick thinking from a throw in led to Dans goal. Gazza was then moved up front to lead the line & had several opportunities to score as he tested the goalkeeper & was always looking to play in a teammate when he thought they had better chances to score.

Michael played in two separate spells in midfield. Michael was making tackles when it really mattered & found himself in the opposition goal are when he was fouled. His dramatic fall wasn’t enough to convince the referee and decided to give a free kick instead which Dan took, sending it narrowly wide.

Coby was full of energy in midfield. He made a fantastic tackle on the edge of our goal area. We lost possession of the ball deep into wollatons half. The broke forward at pace but Coby spotted the danger & sprinted all the way back to recover & make a timely interception. Coby was always positive & he was always on the lookout for a teammate to make a forward pass to.

A great game of football was played out by two evenly matched teams. Physical at times but played in the right sprit. For us to come back into the game after trailing at half time was real credit to the whole team. We’ve had our setbacks over the Winter season, so this performance was just the tonic and if the team take this performance & attitude into the Spring season, we might be able to end 2014-2015 on a high.