AVON YOUTH LEAGUE U’13 DIV 3

 

SUN 5 DEC 04

 

CASTLE COURT           1

FRY CLUB COLTS      1

 

 

A fixture against a team who were below us in the league was certainly something we have looked forward to this season and we went to The Bush Centre in Hengrove confident that we could come away with maximum points.

 

A slow start to the game however put us under a lot of pressure for the first 15 minutes with Castle Court asking all the questions. Only some smart defending by our 2 full backs Louis Nicholl and Jordan Knight helped to keep the scoreline blank with both Michael Payne and James Hurrell Smith working very hard in the centre to protect their keeper Craig Francis. The game began to open up with a lot of loose ball in Midfield. We had welcomed back Ross MacLeod who went straight in at left midfield and he showed some good early touches to stretch the play. It was however down the right side with Reece Tucker where we gained the advantage. With the ball working forward to Brad Monelle, he was forced wide to a very tight angle but with an explosive shot he somehow found the back of the net with a super strike to put us 1 – 0 up, much against the run of play. Confidence began to grow and we maintained the lead into the half time interval.

 

A bad start to the second half however saw our lead cancelled out with a deserved equaliser. This however proved to spur us on as we went onto create chance after chance only to be stopped by an in form Castle Court goalkeeper. Reece Tucker, Brad Monelle, Kyle Curtis, Matt Baber and Oli Boon all had good openings to win the game but in the end we had to settle for a point, much to our frustration.

 

I have to say how pleased I am with the team’s attitude. We are now beginning to show signs of good team play which is proving difficult to break down. This type of performance though needs to be repeated game after game if we want to move up the division into a top 6 place where I believe we should be.

 

Yet another difficult choice for Man of the Match, again chosen by 2 parents, as many of the players played so well. However, for his individual brilliance with the goal he scored, and an overdue good team performance leading the forward line, it was awarded to Brad Monelle.

 

SQUAD: Craig Francis, Kyle Curtis, James Hurrell-Smith, Michael Payne, Reece Tucker, Oli Randall, Matt Baber, Oli Boon, Mo Bouaziz, Brad Monelle, Jordan Knight, Louis Nicholl, Ross MacLeod.