Youth Reports 2016-17

7 May 2017

AC Finchley West 4  Northwood Reds Under 13s 1

Our last game of the season saw us take the trip over to title chasing AC Finchley West. With our status in the league confirmed last week we were hoping that the boys would go out on a win to make it four in a row and to spoil AC’s attempt to win the league. We did start brightly, with the boys showing some good passing moves that saw Ashley go through twice 1 v 1 with the AC keeper but unfortunately couldn’t quite convert the chances.

You could see that AC were well motivated for the game and they did play some good football, but our boys were giving them a lot of time and space in the middle of the pitch as well as not moving the ball quickly to the wide arears as we had asked in the warm up. After nine minutes following a well-worked move from AC we found ourselves 1-0 down. The boys kept their heads up but you could not see the energy and determination of the previous weeks and we came in at half time trailing but just the single goal.

The second half started with the boys picking the tempo up again and made some good chances and were starting to put some pressure on AC’s defence which whilst was quite well organised was not the best one we have played against. Ten minutes into the second half on one of the few occasions we did manage to move the ball wide Lewis Reid beat his player got to the byline and put in a great cross which lead to an under-pressure AC defender putting the ball into his own goal: 1-1.

We were hoping that this goal would help lift the boys energy and go on and play the sort of football that they have shown they are capable of, but again missed tackles saw AC go back into the lead barely two minutes after we had drawn level. You could see that the boys seemed a bit tired from the tournament yesterday and this was showing in the game as AC went on to score two further goals to wrap up the game 4-1 and win the League.

Well, the boys did not make it four wins in a row but they did achieve the target that John and I set them, which was to win three, so well done to them all of them, I do also wish AC all the best of luck next season as they are one of the footballing sides in the division and we have enjoyed playing against them.

Line-up: Dan Davey, Ale, George, Arun, Lewis Ryan, Felipe, Dan Terry, Oliver, Lewis Reid, Declan, Ashley, Dan Jago, Sam. Player of the match: Dan Davey

Dave Blincko