With this being the last game before Christmas and a first away game for 5 weeks we were looking to make amends for a narrow defeat the previous week. With only Harry not available due to endorsement commitments the Sharks had a full strength team. The Sharks starting lineup was as follows; Dylan in Goal, Elliott, Jack, Freddie, Jake, Liam and Aidan, which meant that Josh, Giacomo, and Caleb all started on the bench.
With a professional looking ref inspecting each goal as they were placed the game kicked off at its assigned time. The boys started very brightly doing most of the running in the first 5 minutes, with both Elliott and Jack looking solid, Freddie working neatly in the attacking midfield role, Aidan showing quick feet and body strength, and Liam showing his normal battling nature down the left hand side.
As the game progressed, the opposition managed to work their way into the game, especially one of the forward players who was impressive. He was managing to give Elliott the run around with his ability to keep the ball close and twist away from Elliott when he tried to tackle him. This was one of main reasons why the opposition managed to take the lead.
The ball was played into an attacking area by the opposition, Elliot went in to challenge them but was left chasing his tail by the attacking player after a neat turn. This then brought Jack into play. Both Elliott and Jack have a good understanding of covering each other; Jack made up the required ground, put in an attempt to block the shot, he failed the opposition player in the box and gave away a penalty. This was the first meaningful attack by the opposition who took the penalty well and scored. This was hard to swallow as this meant that the Sharks had to fight their way back into the game once more.
We didn’t have to wait long for the game to draw level, the Sharks were applying pressure and getting some success down the wings. Jake seems to enjoy the role of winger at the moment. He was collecting the ball, cutting inside and out before delivering good crosses into the box. If it wasn’t for not being able to control the football, the Sharks would probably have drawn level earlier and taken the lead, but this is something that we can work on in the new year.
As the pressure continued to build, the Sharks scored past another impressive goal keeper. Giacomo played a neat pass to Aidan who managed to get the ball back to him, enabling Giacomo to break through the defensive line and thump his shot into the roof of the net giving the keeper no chance.
With the Sharks now level we began to apply more pressure giving us more chances to score. But again we faced with another outstanding goal keeper who managed to save most things that came his way. I had a sinking feeling that it was going to prove a frustrating morning, but I was proud of the way the boys stuck to the task of trying to gain the lead.
We had another glorious chance, this time from a free kick, it was roughly 15/20 yards out, pretty much central but slightly to the left hand side and Jack was tasked with taking it. Jack took aim and had a great shot, it was destined to go into the top corner, but was well saved and the rebound bounced to safety for a corner. The first half finished with the Sharks doing all of the pushing; Josh making an impact, doing more running and more hassling than seen before, so a massive well done to him, Caleb again being disciplined and tackling back and forth, and filling in for Elliott when he goes for corners proving his value to the team.
With the second half underway, the normal pattern resumed, the Sharks pinned the opposition back and limited the amount of attacks they had. Credit must be given to all of the team as they worked so hard and well together.
With the game looking more than likely to be a draw, the opposition gave the Sharks a wakeup call. They broke through the middle of the park catching both Jack, Elliott and Giacomo out of position The attacking player was bearing down on goal, we were looking to Dylan to save the day, but to the managements horror Dylan had his back turned to the play and was walking around in a circle trying to keep himself amused as the Sharks were dominating the game. With the management telling Dylan to face the play NOW the attacker was put off and struck the ball but it hit the post and bounced to safety This was a massive relief to everyone connected to the Sharks, Dylan must have been a cat in a previous life because he used a life up then for sure.
With time running down, another free kick was given to the Sharks. Once again Jack was charged with hitting the target from distance, and he did not disappoint and this time the Sharks made sure that we had bodies around the goal keeper, so if he saved it, it might present a chance to the waiting players. The keeper saved well like before, but this time it fell to Freddie, he took a touch, but was block off, so Giacomo tried his luck, and somehow the ball managed to wriggle past the post for a goal kick.
Now the game was entering the last 5 minutes a chance presented itself to Giacomo, a poor goal kick resulted in Jack challenging him for the ball, the ball then broke to Giacomo and with the opposition’s goal keeper out of position, Giacomo tried his luck and shot from distance The ball bounced and bobbled its way into the back of the net giving the Sharks a deserved lead with only a number of minutes left to play. The Sharks changed formation to secure the result.
The Sharks finished the game as we had played it…on top! This had been an entertaining game, that could have gone either way, but glad it went our way as I felt that we deserved it with the amount of effort that the boys had put in.
So we finished before Christmas with a victory, and a well-deserved break for both players and parents.
As always thanks for all your help and effort, the Sharks would not be a team if it wasn’t for the parents and the boys. Have a great time and I will see you all in the new year.
With a professional looking ref inspecting each goal as they were placed the game kicked off at its assigned time. The boys started very brightly doing most of the running in the first 5 minutes, with both Elliott and Jack looking solid, Freddie working neatly in the attacking midfield role, Aidan showing quick feet and body strength, and Liam showing his normal battling nature down the left hand side.
As the game progressed, the opposition managed to work their way into the game, especially one of the forward players who was impressive. He was managing to give Elliott the run around with his ability to keep the ball close and twist away from Elliott when he tried to tackle him. This was one of main reasons why the opposition managed to take the lead.
The ball was played into an attacking area by the opposition, Elliot went in to challenge them but was left chasing his tail by the attacking player after a neat turn. This then brought Jack into play. Both Elliott and Jack have a good understanding of covering each other; Jack made up the required ground, put in an attempt to block the shot, he failed the opposition player in the box and gave away a penalty. This was the first meaningful attack by the opposition who took the penalty well and scored. This was hard to swallow as this meant that the Sharks had to fight their way back into the game once more.
We didn’t have to wait long for the game to draw level, the Sharks were applying pressure and getting some success down the wings. Jake seems to enjoy the role of winger at the moment. He was collecting the ball, cutting inside and out before delivering good crosses into the box. If it wasn’t for not being able to control the football, the Sharks would probably have drawn level earlier and taken the lead, but this is something that we can work on in the new year.
As the pressure continued to build, the Sharks scored past another impressive goal keeper. Giacomo played a neat pass to Aidan who managed to get the ball back to him, enabling Giacomo to break through the defensive line and thump his shot into the roof of the net giving the keeper no chance.
With the Sharks now level we began to apply more pressure giving us more chances to score. But again we faced with another outstanding goal keeper who managed to save most things that came his way. I had a sinking feeling that it was going to prove a frustrating morning, but I was proud of the way the boys stuck to the task of trying to gain the lead.
We had another glorious chance, this time from a free kick, it was roughly 15/20 yards out, pretty much central but slightly to the left hand side and Jack was tasked with taking it. Jack took aim and had a great shot, it was destined to go into the top corner, but was well saved and the rebound bounced to safety for a corner. The first half finished with the Sharks doing all of the pushing; Josh making an impact, doing more running and more hassling than seen before, so a massive well done to him, Caleb again being disciplined and tackling back and forth, and filling in for Elliott when he goes for corners proving his value to the team.
With the second half underway, the normal pattern resumed, the Sharks pinned the opposition back and limited the amount of attacks they had. Credit must be given to all of the team as they worked so hard and well together.
With the game looking more than likely to be a draw, the opposition gave the Sharks a wakeup call. They broke through the middle of the park catching both Jack, Elliott and Giacomo out of position The attacking player was bearing down on goal, we were looking to Dylan to save the day, but to the managements horror Dylan had his back turned to the play and was walking around in a circle trying to keep himself amused as the Sharks were dominating the game. With the management telling Dylan to face the play NOW the attacker was put off and struck the ball but it hit the post and bounced to safety This was a massive relief to everyone connected to the Sharks, Dylan must have been a cat in a previous life because he used a life up then for sure.
With time running down, another free kick was given to the Sharks. Once again Jack was charged with hitting the target from distance, and he did not disappoint and this time the Sharks made sure that we had bodies around the goal keeper, so if he saved it, it might present a chance to the waiting players. The keeper saved well like before, but this time it fell to Freddie, he took a touch, but was block off, so Giacomo tried his luck, and somehow the ball managed to wriggle past the post for a goal kick.
Now the game was entering the last 5 minutes a chance presented itself to Giacomo, a poor goal kick resulted in Jack challenging him for the ball, the ball then broke to Giacomo and with the opposition’s goal keeper out of position, Giacomo tried his luck and shot from distance The ball bounced and bobbled its way into the back of the net giving the Sharks a deserved lead with only a number of minutes left to play. The Sharks changed formation to secure the result.
The Sharks finished the game as we had played it…on top! This had been an entertaining game, that could have gone either way, but glad it went our way as I felt that we deserved it with the amount of effort that the boys had put in.
So we finished before Christmas with a victory, and a well-deserved break for both players and parents.
As always thanks for all your help and effort, the Sharks would not be a team if it wasn’t for the parents and the boys. Have a great time and I will see you all in the new year.