Date	Sunday 27th April 2013
Match	Royston Town Youth Colts v Witchford Colts
Competition	Cambridge & District Colts League U13 Division A
Result	Won 9-2
Royston Scorers	Adam 2, Keiran 2, Mick 2, Lewis, Olly,Joe
Man of Match	Jake – great break up play and incisive passing Olly – marshalled defence brilliantly and good headed goal

Team – George, Jonah, Joe, Kyle, Olly, Jake, Callum, Keiran, Jordan, Adam, Mick, Tom T, Lewis.

 

We had played Witchford Colts at their place two weeks ago so we knew a bit about them, we knew their modus operandi and we looked to prepare the boys accordingly.

 

The morning was bright, not too breezy but still coldish so was perfect for football, as was our pitch which when weather conditions are like this is definitely one of the best and correctly sized pitches in the league.

 

 

With one eye on the league cup final next week we asked our boys for continued commitment to this league season, we reminded them that a second place finish was a reasonable and commendable target now and we urged them to play this game and the one on Wednesday with the same intensity before we turned our attention to the final. Unfortunately we lost Jonah to an injury in the warm-up and we hope he is fit for the coming week.

 

 

The play started with Witchford demonstrating exactly what we had talked about. Their dangerous, quick and extremely talented striker made two good surges up the left with our boys working hard to stay with him and between Tommy, Kyle and Olly they kept his shots under pressure and gave George as much protection as possible. Up the other end Keiran put a good long shot just over. A Keiran free-kick was deflected for a corner and his quality resulting kick somehow went all the way through the packed penalty area. A good move saw Adam put the ball in the net only to see an offside flag and this decision was wrong. Undeterred Adam finished off a really good footballing move two minutes later when movement between Joe and Mick set up Adam to finish off. 1-0. We kept the pressure on and forced some good stops from the Witchford keeper. Mick brought the ball down and slotted through to Adam but no shot came. Again Keiran found himself some space and put in two good efforts one over and one saved. Then it happened – something I personally have been waiting for all season – good control and low pass from Keiran found left back Joe on the edge of the box who looked up and sent in an unstoppable fierce high effort into the top corner of the net – Joey scored – Yes. This meant that all of our players had scored this season. 2-0. The tremendous work rate and effort from Jake and Callum had been superb in this first half giving intelligent support to the back four but still looking to move forward at every opportunity.

 

 

The second half started similar to the first with Witchford pumped up and our back line under pressure – their striker had moved to a more central position so we shifted the brilliant Kyle to man to man mark him again. George did really well on a one on one, smothering the shot cleanly and followed this up with a good save from a spin and shot from the same striker. Witchford forced a series of corners and this pressure brought a goal 2-1. Again our visitor’s direct style of play worked and the long ball and run on saw us even at 2-2. The reaction by the Royston boys to Witchford getting back in this game was terrific. Almost immediately their good football and a clinical through ball by Keiran brought a shot by Adam that was spilled and the alert and speedy Lewis followed up and nodded home 3-2. Straight away we were back at them. A Mick pass was run onto by Keiran showing good pace and he coolly slotted home 4-2. George made a good under pressure catch. The increasingly effective Jake made a great pass to find Mick who shot just over and then Jake executed a really good cross field pass to Jordan who couldn’t quite cross it over. This had been a really good passage of football. However, Witchford got another to make it 4-3 and this must have really annoyed our boys as they didn’t get another sniff. Royston slipped into overdrive and added 5 more goals to finish them off in style.

 

 

5-3             Exquisite Callum pass that Keiran collected and finished with quality.

 

6-3             Mick converts penalty after foul on Jordan.

7-3             Keiran pass finds Adam who slots home with a left foot precision finish.

8-3             Free kick from Keiran is chested and volleyed home brilliantly by Mick.

9-3             Another quality Keiran corner met firmly by Olly for a super header.

 

This was a good game and whilst I certainly would not say that the score flatters us the boys certainly kicked on at the end. A lively striker was more or less contained and restricted to one goal by a really good defensive display with Olly and Kyle working hard to achieve this. Tommy slotted in nicely at the back and Joe had his usual top notch game and capped it with a fantastic goal. George had no chance with the three scored goals but did his bit with some important saves and catches. Top effort as usual from skipper Callum, great running and penetrative forward play by Jordan, Adam and Lewis and nice touches and defence opening play from Mick. It is only writing this report that I have realised just how effective Keiran was in this match and he scored two good goals – top game mate. The joint Men of the Match went to Olly and Jake who really stood up in this match and were both really impressive.