7 Sep 2008 - RESULT - u13s tame the Tigers

THURROCK TIGERS  5-6  THAMES GATEWAY

The u13s got off to a winning start in the friendly with Thurrock Tigers.  Playing four periods of 20 mins to allow Tigers to swap teams around, we ended up playing a selection of players from u12, u13 and u14.

In the opening period we clicked in to gear quickly and with some excellent passing moves put Tigers under a lot of pressure.  Eventually we took the lead when Bradley fired home from inside the area.  A late penalty was awarded when Kews was pushed over in the area and he took it well, striking the ball in to the corner giving the keeper no chance.  In the second period we dropped off a little and the passing was not as fluent.  The defence got caught and with the striker one on one with Kieran he took his chance well and gave James no chance.  2-1 at the half way point

In the third period we got our game back on track and scored three times, twice from Harry and once from Bradley.  Kews set up each of them with tap ins after making great surging runs forward.  In the last period, against the strongest Tigers team we faced, we played some good football but a lapse in concentration after scoring gave Tigers a lift and they got back in the game.  Matthew scored after following up a good effort from Jake and we had a goal claim denied as the Ref (me!!) couldn’t see if it had crossed the line and the lino wasn’t sure.  As I said afterwards, I cannot give a goal if I am not 100% sure the ball is in.

Overall this was a good test - we had to play 80 mins in total, we played various ages/standards of opposition and Kevin was able to try a few different things out.  With limited time for friendlies this helped us a great deal and we thank Tigers for the game.

Man of the Match, as voted by parents was Harry.