Tornadoes hit the Blues for 6. A good opening day win in the Killingworth Summer League, and the good thing is that we know we can play much better!
There were three changes from the Tournament winning side from last week, with Ben, Seb & Michael coming in for the three unavailable today.
First half and to be fair to the blues, they worked very had and is was quite an even game, Tornadoes did though get two goals, both from corners. They were swung in well from Dylan, and Kyle was there to meet the loose ball very well and smash the ball home from close range. At the other end Joseph, Ben & James were coping well with the lively attacking players from the Blues. We went close on lots of other occasions, with Kyle hitting the post, and Ethan unlucky not to get two or three goals, as he kept being denied by the keeper. It was a rather lacklustre first half performance and we asked for more from the boys at the break.
The boys appeared to take this on board, as they scored two quick fire goals at the start of the second half, Dylan listening to the instruction to shoot!!!!!, certainly did this, putting away two lovely strikes. We began to dominate more of the proceedings, and two good long kicks from Joseph set up Michael for two calm finishes from close range. Ben went close to scoring from virtually his own half a great long shot was just knocked away for a corner by the keeper, while Michael and Kyle went close to getting their hatricks. Passing was better in the second half, a couple of lapses of concentration nearly led to a couple of goals but the defence held out for a opening day clean sheet.
Joseph - Good kicking, and couple of good saves, but lost concentration as he had a quiet second half.
James - Good strong defensive performance, just need to relax at times.
Ben - Superb Tornadoes debut, good in the tackle and cleared superbly, unlucky not to get a goal.
Harry - Started the game well on left, but drifted from position at times, made some good interceptions when going back on.
Kyle - Excellent finishes for goals, and lots of important tackles in the middle of the park.
Dylan - Infuriating first half performance, good skills but tried to do far too much needs to trust and let team mates get on with their jobs. Second half much better, took the game away from the blues. For two goals and two assists and hard work, Dylan just pipped Ben for my man of the match.
Ethan - Plenty of good runs and unfortunate not to get goals in first half, when moved to the wing in the second half worked hard and contributed well to a good second half performance.
Seb - A promising performance on the left hand side of midfield tracked back well and put in some vital challenges, also impressive was the number of times he got his head to the ball.
Michael - After drifting from his position when coming on, settled down, and his strength caused Blues defenders lots of problems. Took goals well with both feet.
We know we can play much better as a unit, but we now have a couple of weeks of training, to try and start gelling more as a team. Considering all the changes from the end of last season though, this is to be expected, and it does show the potential for the team that they can win so comfortably without hitting top form.
Well done all the boys, training Wednesday 6pm.
