Twin Oaks FC U13's V Upper Beeding
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12th Jul 2008 CLICK TO SPONSOR |
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Twin Oaks FC U13's
v
Upper Beeding
Now and then you have to take a risk so I did and today I brought neither a tent or gazebo I even took to wearing a pink coloured jacket. Now that is daring!!
Today James and I made big changes in terms of the personnel taken and our expectations for the new season have been raised further, although luck was not to run with us today. The players taken were very adaptable and that was shown through the tournament.
Josh and Tom and various times played in midfield and in attack, Ryan and Sam played in defence, in attack, and midfield at various points, and Jason played midfield and defence. Only Matt and Sean specialized.
Its quite usual to lose our first game and once again we were not to disappoint. An error was our undoing in a game when all present were impressed by the passing and moving of all our players and if the opposition keeper had not sat on the ball when Sam struck the ball superbly we would have shared the points in the first game against Lancing Rangers.
Southwick Rangers were our second opposition and we had big problems in defending in numbers in the first half and they took a 2-0 half time lead which was due to hesitation and an error prone start. Yet again we started to pass and with super goals forged and scored by Tom and Josh we clawed our way back to 2-2 and justifiably so.
Our third game was against Copthorne and having seen them it was a game that we felt we should win. Expectations were soon dashed with our defence being severely outnumbered and we were beaten deservedly 1-0.
The fourth game was against Hangleton Rangers who we had previously played in the semi final of the Worthing Minors Tournament. They were probably the most difficult opponents of the day and this was soon born out when they quickly took the lead. However we fought back and a long clearance which Tom chased down, their keeper exceeded his area and misread the bounce and handled the ball. A free kick was awarded a little way out of the area which Tom lined up.
Now this I suspect will be a contentious issue for at least another week, because Tom struck the ball well but according to Josh he deflected the ball on target and the ball ended up in the net. Probably just reward for our play overall. However just afterwards they got a late winner and depression had set in. By the way we have awarded the goal to ToJo. Work it out for yourself but to me it sounds like a Japanese import. Hangleton went on to win the tournament.
The depression was partially due to the knowledge that our last game would be against Marle Place Wanderers who we seem to finish losing to in league games to regularly, and to rub salt into the wound Tinley was playing for the opposition. Still we like to buck the trend and duly did with a superb winning goal from Tom and a deserved win. Our performance was excellent and defence worked superbly at last.
What can I say other than that James and I felt the passing was as good as anything that we had seen this summer, and only silly errors today let us down.
One of the best wind-ups was achieved however when Sam who was taking his turn as sub and had taken the chance to grab a burger was told as he walked heavily laden as walked down the line that he had to go on as Jason was injured and pretended to limp off. “you’re kidding” he cried. We confirmed that we were, but it was worth it to see the look on his face.
We must not let our heads drop as we know we have the ability whichever the combination of players used we can compete.