On Saturday the under 11s played their first Cup match on what turned out to be one of the most historic Cup days ever.
The team lined up in its usual three, two, one formation that they now seem comfortable with. The game started off with both teams having chances – it was a very open first half with chances created at both ends.
The opposition took the lead when one of their players managed to poke the ball past Milly after a goalmouth scramble. The opposition seemed to be dominating the midfield area so we decided to move Leonardo into midfield from right wing back and Nicholas came on to replace Theo to play right wing back. Although there were further chances for both sides the score remained 1 – 0 at halftime.
The halftime team talk centred around our midfield two taking control of the game. Kirt and I were sure that if we improved in that area we would win the match. The only change to the team at half time was the goalkeepers, Milly coming off and Harry coming on.
The second half started off in much the same vein as the first with attack and counter attack. We then got a freekick for a foul on Michael on the left hand side of the pitch. Michael took the free kick himself (he had just taken one and crashed it straight into the wall) – it faired better then his previous one and flew in to the top right hand corner. No goalkeeper would have saved that, a truly memorable strike worthy of winning any football match. 1 – 1 and game on.
Roundwood Rangers were then awarded a very soft penalty, we questioned this with the referee who said he saw a push, well we weren’t sure where the push took place or what the referee was looking at. We feared the worse….but they missed.
Priory Park, buoyed by this missed penalty, began to push forward more and more. Nicholas made a number of runs down the right as did Noah (who was playing his best match to date for Priory Park) on the left hand side. John in midfield was making his presence felt with a number of crunching tackles.
A quick break down the left lead to Priory Park going ahead with a scramble in the box culminating in Michael squirming the ball home: 2 – 1. With minutes left to go and the opposition desperate to equalise Priory Park broke away on the left, Michael fed Tana who passed the ball to John who pushed it right to Nicholas who lobbed it over the goalkeeper to make it 3 – 1.
Priory Park held on for the final whistle. A great performance by the team as a whole well done.
John & Kirt