SFC U9 orange v London Colney Colts?? U9 blues ?? 10:40 Kick off away at Middlesex university Astro
The colts came into today’s match in great spirits having spent Saturday as the guard of honour for St Albans City (and watching them beat a team much higher up in the division hopefully helped them learn some skills) as well as several of them getting the chance to meet the England legend Glen Hoddle. The time doing some team building seemed to pay off as from kick off the Colts were like a different team.
SFC kicked off and within seconds Cian was straight in there getting possession and driving up to the SFC goal. What followed was over ten minutes where Colts had nearly all the possession and had several chances to score. The boys seemed a bit tentative to strike at goal and when we did we were really unlucky as Alby had a great strike that hit the cross bar and Ziyad had a shot that was saved by a good goalie. Any time SFC tried to get possession Arthur and Ziyad where there to win it back and push it straight back up to our boys and for every goal kick from SFC Alby was straight in with the pressure winning it and taking it back up to their box with Cian. There was a great shape to the team and they worked well with a good throw in from Arthur a strong f run up the wing from Henry to a shot for Cian, it was everything the boys are taught in training.
Following subs from Colts SFC took advantage of us losing a bit of shape whilst we regrouped. SFC won a corner and got it in the box, Jonas made a good save on the ground but SFC caught it on the rebound, Alby got in the goal and blocked with his foot getting it away, third time lucky for SFC as they managed to get it in.
?? 14m ??1-0??
Having been the stronger team the scoreline now offered a challenge. Oscar had come on with the subs and was ready to make an impact on the game. The boys managed to create a few more chances with Elliot passing to Oscar for a shot at goal. On the sidelines we were starting to wonder when the goal would come. It finally came when Arthur won a ball from an SFC throw in our half, made the pass to Alby who drove the ball up to the SFC goal made a pass to Oscar. Oscar had to battle in the wings and made a shot from quite far out which the goal keeper just couldn’t reach.
??20m??1-1?? Oscar ??
The boys knew they had it at this point and relaxed. The next goal came 2 minutes later. SFC took the centre kick and Elliot defended it back to the SFC half winning a throw in and passing to Arthur, Arthur got the pass to Oscar just outside the box. Oscar got a strong boot to it straight into the back of the net.
??22m ??1-2?? Oscar, Arthur assist ??
SFC were now feeling the pressure of the Colts constant domination of the match and possession. The Colts quickly regained possession after the SFC centre kick. Elliot was about to take a shot just outside the box when he was pushed over from behind by an SFC player. Poor Elliot was carried off injured by Kristian, giving Alby a chance for a free kick on his dangerous left foot, straight into the goal.
??23m ??1-3?? Alby ??
SFC had a few minutes of possession in our half. Sufyan made a good tackle to win back possession and then passed to Alby. Alby ran from our half to the SFC box using his fantastic footwork and skills to get past three defenders to score with a left boot lifting the ball to the top of corner of the goal where the goalie couldn’t get it.
??26 m ??1-4 ??Alby (Sufyan assist)??
HT ??1-4??
Colts continued to dominate from second half kick off with Henry hitting the crossbar with a drive from outside the box, despite some very tall subs arriving late to the game. SFC created a few more chances with potshots at goal. There was some Strong passing in the wings between Alby, Oscar and Elliot before a pass to Henry with Cian picked up the sliding through ball from Henry, Cian running with absolute determination to make sure it didn’t go out, the goalie went to the ground to get it, Cian kept his compose for a fantastic finishing and chipped it over the goalie to score.
??31 m ??1-5??Cian (Henry assist)??
The Colts perhaps then got overconfident at their lead. They continued to dominate play but there was less passing and so when we had chances they didn’t translate to goals.
At 40 minutes a free kick just outside the penalty box was given in a dubious decision. This resulted in a goal against us.
??40m ??2-5?? There followed 2 more goals for SFC and the Colts seemed to lose their heads for a while. SFC were rushing to score and it seemed we were rushing but we don’t know why as we held the lead but we seemed to forget to keep our presence and in that ten minutes reduced our ample lead. ??48 m ??4-5??
On the sidelines we went from feeling relaxed to disbelieving as the pressure continued. A final minute goal came when Arthur tackled SFC in our half, Alby won the ball running it up and passing to Oscar, Oscar took it up and as the goalie went down to collect it he got it over him. Super finish.
FT 50m ??4-6 ?? Oscar (Alby assist)??
Overall today saw so much great play from the boys with them showing much strength, passing well as a team and technical skills. The scoreline may well have been a lot higher to us on a different day, well played Colts.
We finished the match with a celebratory happy birthday sung to coach Kristian.
Man of the match - Oscar Trainer of the week - Arthur
