| Date | Sunday 24th October 2010 |
| Match | Royston Town Youth Colts v Sawbridgeworth Juniors |
| Competition | Royston Crow Youth Football League Div 2 |
| Result | Won 7-1 |
| Royston Scorers | Mick (43), Keiran, Bruce, Tom T, Matthew |
| Man of Match | Matthew (Committed, Detarmined & Creative – plus a goal) |
Team – Rory, Brad, Jamie C, Jamie P, Joe, Lewis, Callum, Matt, Tom F, Jack, Mick, Bruce, Tom T, Keiran.
The sixth league game of the season saw us host Sawbridgeworth Juniors at the Heath on a great day for football. The weather was dry and bright, quite cool, with little wind and the pitch was in excellent condition. It can be seen that the boys have made a very good start to the season, playing exciting football, scoring well worked goals and keeping it reasonably tight at the back. Today we had a fully fit and healthy squad as we all looked to keep this good unbeaten run going.
The game itself started with the boys struggling to find any real rhythm. Despite the excellent playing surface, the boys seemed to be under-hitting their passes and the ball was not getting to where it was being aimed. Matt and Keiran made bright starts and were getting stuck in early whilst always trying to make intelligent passes, Callum was harassing and haranguing as usual and Tom on the right was trying to get some runs going, The scoring was opened with Mick creating his own chance receiving the ball from Lewis and putting in a good shot that the Sawbo keeper blocked only for it to rebound to Mick who stuck it away for 1-0. Keiran put through a long searching pass that Lewis tried to latch onto but just couldn’t quite connect. Jack put over a good corner and JP headed just wide. There then followed a very scrappy period where the defence let themselves down not dealing with the through balls and seeming to sit back too much. Rory saved them with first a good run out and clearance and then a very good stop from a shot by the alert Sawbo striker. The defenders allowed a long ball to bounce and again Rory came to their rescue with an excellent save. Keiran up the other end made it 2-0, picking up a loose ball in midfield, taking it forward a couple of paces and unleashing a brilliant long shot into the top corner of the net. Disappointingly, the defence let a long ball bounce again and this time the Sawbo forward punished them by sticking it in the net well giving the exposed Rory no chance. Again the boys were battling and trying hard but their passes were still not finding their targets and this patchy and frustrating half ended at 2-1.
We spoke to the boys about putting these things right. We needed the long balls to be dealt with, the first and second balls to be challenged for to keep the pressure off the goal and we need all the team to get their passing going. We made a couple of personnel and positional changes, fired them up and sent them out again. The first half had been probably our weakest period of play so far this season and we asked all the team to keep the effort going.
The second half did begin much tighter and the boys seemed much more focussed on the job in hand. A nice quick move between Mick and Foxy forced a corner and then Mick picked up a good pass from Tommy T and finished coolly for 3-1. Lewis was now in goal and saved and caught a long shot confidently. Sawbridgeworth kept trying to create shooting chances but the midfield had stepped up a gear and was much more effective in their break up play. Tommy T and JP were keeping the central defence strong and both Joe and Brad were tackling well and soaking up the pressure. Some good play by Jack forced a corner and Mick sent it over and a scramble ensued which Tommy T put an end to by scoring the fourth goal for 4-1. We had changed the formation slightly by going to five in midfield and just one up front and this seemed to help with the boys taking full control of the game. Matt got on the score-sheet driving forward well after good work by Foxy and his calm and collected finish made it 5-1. The Royston sixth goal was the best move of the match. Some battling work by Foxy saw him win the ball and make a good pass whilst on the ground to Matt who looked up and played a great wide pass to Jack who beat his man well and sent over a low and accurate pass for Bruce to finish on the volley – great stuff. The scoring was completed with a real route one goal. A long kick by Lewis was collected well by Mick who took it round the keeper to notch the team’s seventh and his own hat-trick. The game ended at 7-1.
Summary – A scrappy first half and a much improved second half. Once again the boys got better as the game went on. It was a good final score but this hides the few defensive lapses and the fact that Rory had had to work hard to keep the Sawbo shots out in the first half. We need to play better throughout the whole game if we are to keep this unbeaten run going.
