It’s
A Wonderful Life Sunday 13th May
2007
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And
so to the final game of the season.
Thankfully after Friday we were able to relax and both Jordan and James
came along to play, and it was nice to see them. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but that didn’t
matter. St Nicks also did the same and
some players who didn’t usually get a game for them also were able to play.
Game
1 - The line up was:
Joby
Jack Callum
Josh Joel
Tom
Joe
Rolling Subs: Luke, Dan
& Jordan
After
a bit of to-ing and fro-ing Tom broke away and played a great reverse pass to
Joe, in on the ‘keeper, but he hit his shot straight at him. It went for a corner which Joe floated in at
a perfect height, but everyone seemed to just stop, and it went harmlessly
wide. A throw down the line saw Josh
flick the ball past a defender and shoot at the near post, but their ‘keeper
made a good save. Tom won the ball on
the left, hit it through their defence for Joe
who cut right across goal, but flicked it with the outside of his left foot
into the net 0-1. They came straight back at us and hit a
rasping shot which Joby did well to hold.
Joel won the ball and played it wide to Josh. He passed inside for Tom and went for the
return, before crossing into Joe whose shot was blocked, and Tom hit the
rebound, but it was always rising too much.
A throw from Tom was cleared to Jack who shot. It was blocked but played wide to Joe who
crossed in and Joel flung himself at it, but unfortunately didn’t connect. Down by the right corner flag Tom threw to
Joel who laid it back and Tom struck it, from a really narrow angle on the
half-volley and the ‘keeper did well to react and push it away. Jack played it in to Josh who found Tom. Tom’s reverse pass found the run of Josh, but
his touch took it just too close to the ‘keeper.
From
a big throw,
Man of the Match – Chosen by Andy for excellent play
and effort – The Whole Team
Game
2 - The line up was:
Jamie
Sam
B Mark
Spike Sam K
Max
Chilly
Rolling Subs: Jim, Josef
& James
They
had a shot hard and low through a crowd, but Jamie watched it all the way and
made the save. Some battling outside of
our box saw a low shot which Jamie confidently let go, however a few of us
across the way held our breath! Sam K
won the ball and played in Max. He shot
high, but their ‘keeper made the save.
Spike hit it forward to Max who turned and shot. Their ‘keeper made the save, but as Chilly
raced in on the rebound, their ‘keeper dived at it to push it away from
goal. They attacked down the right and
Sam B came in with a strong tackle. Mark
picked up the deflection and fed the ball to Sam K. He ran and crossed it, but it was just too
far ahead of Chilly and Max. We conceded
a poor goal right on the stroke of half-time.
It flew in, we all stopped and it bounced up five yards out. Their player headed it just the wrong side of
the post, however another player running in across goal, got his head to it and
forced it inside of the post 1-0. From the kick the ref’ blew half-time!
The
second half turned more into a middle of the field battle of attrition with
very few chances being created at either end.
We broke forward and a ball into the corner was chased by James. He got his foot to their attempted clearance
and it fell for Jim, whose shot went just wide.
Then Josef battled hard to win the ball and shot, but the ‘keeper held
onto it. They played some excellent
passing football which had our players turning in circles and as Jamie raced
out at their attacker, he managed to turn the ball inside him and inside Jamie
and it rolled in 2-0. Right at the end of the game, we cleared a
throw to the halfway line and their player blasted it goal-wards. It came down yards from goal and Jamie tried
to dive on it, however in the rain and mud it came loose and their player just
chipped it over him into an empty net 3-0.
Man of the Match – Chosen by Andy for excellent play
and effort – The Whole Team
For the
game itself, we played long periods of good football, especially the ‘A’ team
and they deserved to win their game. The
‘B’ team didn’t create so much, but I felt that a 2-0 defeat and a draw overall
would have been a fair result, but it was not to be. At this point I would like to say
congratulations to Max, the only ever present in the team with all 32 games
played, and to Chilly, 32 goals, an average of a goal a game is a fantastic
achievement at any level.
As for the
season, we ended up winning the league by one point from St Nicks, and to be
fair, they have been the strongest team that we have faced. That said, we scored more than any other team
in our division and let in less than any other team and had a goal difference
of +99, which is superb. In fact we
scored the most goals across all four divisions and had the best goal
difference, something we should be proud of as a team! I quite like the fact that we played 12 at
Home, won 9, drew 1 and lost 2, and played 12 Away, won 9, drew 1 and lost
2. It shows a consistency that has
ultimately underpinned the title. It has
been a long hard season, and one the boys should all be proud of. To win a division, at any level of any sport
is a great achievement and many people have been congratulating me, however I
say to them all, don’t congratulate me, congratulate the boys. It is their achievement, their effort and
their success, and they have the right to be pleased with what they have
done.
People may
say that it was only the third division, but that doesn’t matter! To put it into context, the last team I ran
played their final game against Thornbury Falcons, and afterwards their manager
said to me that he was proud that his team had been in the first division from
the start as U10’s to the end as U16’s, which is a great thing, but what did
they have to show for it? My team had
come up from the second division as U14’s but had won two divisional titles, 1st
division runners-up as U15’s and both League and County Cup runners-up as U16’s
and we had all the medals to show for it, they had nothing. Furthermore, our Club has never won any U10
divisional title…….. until now, and we are just the fifth team from our Club to
win a Sunday divisional title in the Club’s 25 year affiliation with the Hanham
Minor League and the Avon Youth League.