14 Sep 2008 - RESULT - u14s win final friendly

Thames Gateway   3  Brandon Groves 1  (Friendly)

The Club’s first game of the season at Lakeside was played on an excellent looking pitch, bathed in sunshine and looking resplendent with its new goals (Editor's note: Hill swallows dictionary - film at 11).

The 14’s started with eleven players as we were missing Ashley and Chay (injured), Ryan C and  Freddie (family commitments), George S and Squirrel (Cricket Cup Final), so it was good that we gave a debut to Danny while Luke started his second game for us at right back. 

Sean D opened the game with our second spectacular goal in two successive Sundays.  Sean hit an identical goal in training on Saturday.  He picked the ball up slightly to the right of goal 30 yards out; he took a touch and unleashed an exocet missile from 25 yards into the roof of the net.  1-0.

Despite the very early goal, (Sean’s Dad missed it), and despite dominating in the first half, try as we might, we were unable to find the net again before half time.  Robert C, Sean D, Sean B, Reggie, Tom, Danny and Squirrel (fresh from his cricket final), all went close.  Our finishing could have been much better.  We hit at least four or five shots straight at the Brandon Grove keeper.  We also seemed to be hurrying our attacks.

At half time, Paul and Steve asked the players to improve their finishing and to support the player on the ball better in the second half. Our support play was better in the second half.  Tom had a great second half at right back starting a number of moves and also having four shots from distance that went very close. 

Brandon Grove started coming back at us and Luke, back in goal for us, made a great save diving low to turn a goal bound shot around the post and keep the score at 1-0. 

Robert C had several chances but his shots seemed to keep finding the keeper, he persevered though and was denied by the far post before scoring the goal he deserved.  2-0.

Reggie went very close again, as did Squirrel, Sean B, Sean D and Ryan W, who made frequent runs down the left. 

Sean B was named man of the match though; he was very lively in midfield and caused Brandon Groves plenty of problems.  He deserved his goal after causing chaos in the area, firing home his shot, which a Brandon Groves defender helped on its way into the net trying to clear it.  3-0.

At the centre of our defence, Conor and Kieran were awesome again.  Not only did they make important tackles, they also started some great moves with their passes out of defence.  They were well supported by Tom and Ryan.  Ryan made a fantastic tackle as a Brandon Groves player got the best of Conor for once, he was about to pull the trigger when Ryan slid in and cleared the danger. 

However, Brandon Groves got the goal that their efforts deserved late on to make the final score 3-1.

A big thank you to Ian and everyone connected with Brandon Groves FC for playing the friendly, we wish you well for the coming season.  To your defender with the broken leg, we hope you recover quickly and manage to get the nail polish off your toes before School tomorrow. 

Thank you also to our two Refs today, one of whom was our very own Dave Chapman, both did a fantastic job in the middle. 

Hats off to Mark, Glen and all at Lakeside for preparing an excellent playing surface during the summer, it has never looked better than it did today.