Fry Club Juniors V
Whitchurch Sports
(Home)
13/11/04
K-O 12:45
I was a little
apprehensive with Whitchurch Sports being our opponents today. We had already
played them away and lost the first game 3-0 but managed to win by the odd goal
(5-4) in the second game. I remember it was a tough first game. They sat 5
behind the ball and had one very capable young lad up front, a very talented
player who made me afraid!.
GAME 1
Already knowing that Louis Heiztman wasn’t available today, which
is bad enough, Jack Sheean,
turns up with a stinking cold!, Jack,
you see, is a big part of my plans to stop their “very capable” young lad.
Any worry’s I had before
the start of the game where quickly lifted though. Too his credit, Jack came to play a game, and play he
did, time after time along with Mathew Notton, they stopped “the kid who made me afraid” from
even getting a sniff at goal. Even when Whitchurch broke through we had Joshua Pocock
to save the day in goal.
Even better was that Pheobe Jofefowicz
came in and did a great job filling in for Louis
in the centre of midfield along side Vicky
Foxwell and Ryan
Kibby. That along with Ashley Siddall providing the finishing
touches up front (adding another 3 goals to his seasons tally) was enough to
give us a tough but fairly fought win.
This game was far from a
push over, but I have to say we never really looked uncomfortable throughout
the whole game. Without trying to take away from the great teamwork shown by
the Whitchurch players who showed great spirit right up until the final
whistle, evidenced by grabbing a deserved consolation goal for their efforts at
the very end of the game.
There was some real pure
moments in this game for me, at the back we had Jack & Mathew, Jack
with his “stinking cold” but his energetic style pulling him through, and then
we had Mathew, who at times I just
can’t believe, he posses a great reading of the game, he is always aware,
looking around himself to see if anyone is trying to sneak by. Then in midfield
we had Phoebe, Vicky & Ryan, these
3 linking up very well to support the front man Ashley Siddall.
Final score 3 – 1 to Fry’s
Goal scorers: Ashley Siddall
(3)
Player of the match: Mathew Notton – clever and calculated 
Team : Joshua Pocock,
Jack Sheean, Mathew Notton,
Pheobe Jofefowicz, Vicky Foxwell, Ryan Kibby, Ashley Siddall.
SUBS (used): Cameron Thawes,
GAME 2
I only have 12 players
today so I have to pick some of the team that played the last game, we had the
ever impressing Brandon Clerk in
goal, another fine defender in Sarah
Underhill playing along side a tired Mathew
Notton at the back, the midfield was filled by Cameron Thawes
and Ellie Hockling.
To start upfront we had Joshua Pocock along side Curtis
Dainton.
Fry’s started off well, quickly
going on the attack and Whitchurch putting up some stubborn resistance, but
then, a good tackle by Sarah and a
quick pass to Mathew gave us the break
through. Mathew picked up the ball on the half way line and swept forward with
pace to put a precise shot past their keeper to score his second of the season
and to put Fry’s 1 – 0 up.
The game then started to
go a bit end to end with some great football played by both sides right up
until the half time whistle. At half time I changed over Mathew for Pheobe,
I put Cameron into defence while
putting Pheobe
into midfield to fill the gap left by Cameron.
I also Swapped over Joshua Pocock for Ashley
Siddall up front, these substitutions being
pretty much forced, as both Joshua and
Mathew had played for a full 60 minutes by now.
The 2nd half started
off steady with both sides looking to give nothing away, but then! as if the
script was already written, Ashley
picked up the ball from Cameron and
with a clever step over went through the middle of 2 defenders, turned inside
another and then slotted the ball home to make it 2 – 0 to Fry’s. To be honest,
we never really looked uncomfortable, with only a couple of moments of unease
throughout the remaining period.
Whitchurch then managed to
pull it back to 2 – 1, but from the resulting kick-off Ashley took off with the ball from the centre kick and set off
towards goal, beat off a couple of challenges and went through to score his 5th
goal of the day and to reinstate our 2 goal advantage. The game remained a
battle of the midfield from here on in, with both sides having limited chances.
Whitchurch again scored
another last minute goal to make it an uneasy last minute or so, but we saw out
the remaining time to win by the odd goal.
Final score 3 – 2 to Fry’s
Goal scorers : Mathew Notton,
Ashley Siddall
(2)
Player of the match : Cameron Thawes – tough and decisive
Team : Brandon Clerk,
SUBS (used): Ashley Siddall, Vicky Foxwell, Pheobe Jofefowicz
Manager’s thoughts :
Whitchurch gave 2 very competitive
matches, but the winning factor today was the teamwork and commitment shown
from each and every Fry player. I think today we were just more hungry for it!
Every player worked hard, not only for themselves but for their team mates as
well.
Well done boys & girls, you
should all be proud.