U18s White Vs Cotgrave Claret Under 8

The first of four away games saw us travel to Cotgrave Claret. The team were in confident mood after several very good performances recently and all the players were showing in the pre match warm up why they should be in the starting line up. The team talk focused on carrying on the hard work the team had put in recently & playing with smiles on our faces.

A starting line up of Dan in goal, Alex in defence, Emin & Nathan in midfield & Mikey up front.

As of recent weeks, we started on the front foot, being first to every loose ball & were showing real intent going forward. It wasn’t long before we scored our first goal. Emin won the ball in midfield & ran up the right wing, beating a couple of Cotgrave players. He looked up and spotted Mikey in the goal area. Emin passed to Mikey, and although his first shot was blocked, he scored from the rebound. Mikey was soon to score again. After a Cotgrave attack, Alex won the ball and cleared it long. It was a superb pass as it fell right into Mikeys path, and with only the keeper to beat, he finished well.

After 10 minutes substitutions were made, Eddie replace Alex at the back, Mikey moved into midfield alongside Coby, Gazza came on as striker.

Cotgrave started to get into the game & with all their pressure, they scored their first goal of the match.  Mikey & Coby were having to work really hard in midfield as the opposition were creating a few chances. Dan had to make a spectacular save low to his left to keep us in the game. Its times like this when the hard work really pays off as it kept us in the match going into half time.

Changes were made again with Nathan slotting into defence, Emin & Alex in midfield & Dan as striker. It’s great to see the players happy to play a number of different positions, & play so well as we came out after half time really determined to take control of the game.

Cotgrave carried on from where they left off before half time with an attack on our goal, but as the ball was about to go out for a throw in to the opposition, Nathan managed to clear it up field with a long range pass into the centre of the pitch where Dan was already on his way forward. A great counter attack left Dan to run towards goal unchallenged, as the opposition had pushed forward, and although a Cotgrave player showed great determination to catch him, Dan scored with a composed finish. Alex soon got in on the act with a great finish & Nathan scored from a free kick from just outside the goal area after some great skill from Emin confused a defender & brought him down.

Cotgrave did manage to score themselves after Alex tried to clear the ball away but unfortunately the ball hit the post & a Cotgrave player scored from the rebound. Alex blamed himself for the goal but was determined to make amends as from the resulting kick off he battled his way through to score.

Cotgrave managed to pull a goal back in the last 10 minutes, but Coby, Gazza & Dan were making calving out numerous chances so Cotgrave put all their players behind the ball which was making it hard for us to break them down.

Another fantastic performance from all the players today. The attitude was first class. The determination & hard work saw us score different types of goals, both from individual skill & from players not giving up & battling hard.

Man of the Match was another tough one to call. Nathan with a great assist & a free kick, Mikey who bagged himself two goals and played well in goal, Dan with a goal & kept us in the game when the opposition were piling on the pressure, Emin with a great assist, some fantastic midfield play & when he wanted to take the free kick after being fouled, he understood that letting Nathan take it was the right thing to do. But for scoring two great goals in difficult circumstances, Alex just shaded it.

Well done team, now onto the Forest Academy tournament.