Date	Sunday 28th April 2013
Match	Stotfold Juniors v Royston Town Youth Colts
Competition	Royston Crow Youth Football League U15 Division 1
Result	Won 0-2
Royston Scorers	James B, Alasdair

This game for me was all about the boy’s character and how they would bounce back from the recent disappointments of the last couple of weeks, we had a really productive training session on Friday and their seemed to be no hangover from the Wednesday night defeat as their attitude was spot on. We arrived at Stotfold on a sunny morning with near perfect conditions for football but the pitch was very small and the goals like wise but it was the same size for both teams so we needed to just focus on the job ahead. 

We spoke about showing the same desire attack wise to score goals as we do to defend as I feel we sometimes lack that bit of bravery in the opposition area. We had to make the pitch as big as possible when we had the ball so the two wide men must hog the touchline also we asked them to keep things simple and the last thing we said was enjoy the game.

 

Stotfold set their stool out from the very first whistle as they closed us down and were very competitive all over the pitch. We were finding it hard to get into a rhythm as the uneven pitch meant their were to many with a heavy touch which meant to often we gave the ball away.Stotfold had the better of the first twenty minutes with out giving Robbie to much trouble as we were defending well as a unit. We finally started to get to grips with the game and our passing improved and this gave us some confidence. James R on the right was a constant threat and his crosses were a feature but as spoke about before hand nobody was showing that killer instinct in the area. We put together the move of the match just before half time when a first time pass from Callum found AJ he in turn found James R whose cross was meet my James B but his header was just over, the ref soon blow for the end of the half with the game all square.

We spoke about our first touch improving and moving the ball quicker as some of the football played was excellent when we did this, we had to keep believing as all our play needed was a goal and I was sure if we continued to play the way we did in that last twenty minutes the goals would come.

 

We started where we left off and you could see the boys had that belief back in their play as we continued to play some good football and you could sense the first goal was not to far away. Ten minutes into the second half and we got that all important first goal when Richard won the ball in the middle of the park and played a pass in a straight line for James B to challenge he in turn was not favourite to get their but what he showed was that desire we spoke about he out muscled the centre half before calmly slotting the ball home to give us a deserved lead. You could see the confidence flow back as within five minutes we increased the lead, this time James R sent over a great corner which was asking to be attacked and that’s just what Alasdair did meeting the ball on the volley for our second goal. We were now playing with confidence and Wednesday night was now a distant memory. We continued to look dangerous but did not score again and it was good to keep a clean sheet although in the last minute we conceded a free kick thirty yards out and the Stotfold skipper who is a player I like hit a thunderbolt which Robbie was equal to pulling off a fantastic save, the ref brought an end to the game and although Stotfold gave a good account of themselves nobody could argue we deserved this victory.

I told the boys how pleased I was with them today they passed several tests and that is a credit to them, they all stood up to the challenge and today we saw some of the football we know they can play, the two goals were very pleasing because they showed that desire to want the ball more than their opponents in the box. We still have five games left so we must carry this on and finish as high up in the league as we can.

 

Its been a difficult month for the boys we lost two tough games to Letchworth as well as the game Wednesday but their attitude and willingness to learn from these games and put things right has been mature beyond their years they always give myself and the other coaches their respect and that’s the reason I enjoy working with them all so much.

James B gets a special mention, this is his first season with us and he has had to be patient as to starting games, he has lots of ability which we see in training every week and today we saw that desire to get to the ball first to score his goal which he took superbly, this will hopefully give him confidence for the rest of the season.