STANWAY ROVERS 4 LONG MELFORD U12 REDS 0
(Friendly Match, Sunday 13 April 2008)
Melford came under early pressure with Max having to make a couple of good saves to help us settle in without going behind. Melford did settle and played some good passing football but without creating any clear chances. Stanway shot wide and then Max had to stretch to palm away a shot to keep the scores at 0-0 at the end of the first period (3 x 20 minutes).
In the second period Melford lost shape in midfield and after 6 minutes of this period went behind after Max came out and narrowed the angle, the shot was going wide but a Rovers player just got his head to it at the last moment to nod the ball inside the post despite Max’s bold efforts. Max was kept busy, parrying a shot and doing enough to force the striker to shoot over from the loose ball.
Melford looked good on the ball going forward, and a good passing move between Billy, Dan Knowles, and Skippy forced a corner following Dans’ cross into the box. Stanway cleared from the corner and Melford struggled to catch their midfielder who ran through and placed his shot wide of Max to make it 2-0. The third goal was unlucky for Max who managed to stop the initial shot but not the follow up.
Max came out of goal for the third period and injected a bit of pace and urgency into the side. The midfield for the most part got some shape and discipline back and again our passing game was good. However, the last goal came from a corner which was half cleared and was struck home superbly from 18 yards.
We had some players unavailable and this did affect our shape, and some individual performances were disappointing at times. Max was on good form in goal and the score could have been worse. Dan Aldous filled in well at centre back, and the other defenders Jordan, Jamie and Matt put in a lot of effort under a fair amount of pressure. George Byham’s tackling and Billy’s creative runs served us well, but overall we looked a bit lost at times without those key players, which proves the importance of these games. Well done to everyone who was there!
