17/12/06 Feltham Youth 3 v AFC Walcountians 6

Feltham ended 2006 on a losing note as they went down 6-3 at home to a strong and skillful Walcountians team, who took advantage of a sloppy ten minute spell of play by the home team before half time.

  On a bright cold morning the Blues were soon under pressure and conceded a quick goal when one of the visiting forwards scored from close range. Feltham came back quickly and were soon level when Nathan fired in after a good run. The Blues were now on top and Turnell almost gave them the lead when he burst through the centre of defence and fired agonisingly wide. Ten minutes before half time the visitors took the lead when a corner from the left found an unmarked Walcountian who side footed home. The visitors then doubled their lead within two minutes when first a lack of communication at the back saw an own goal from a high through ball. From the kick off a sloppy pass saw the visitors break down the left and make it four. Suddenly from being on top and comfortable at 1-1, we were 4-1 down at half time. We will now have to go back to basics in training regarding how we defend as a team and learn how to concentrate right through the 60 minutes.

  The Blues gave a battling second half performance which saw us having to chase the game to try to get a goal back. Once again more sloppy defending saw a penalty conceded for the second week running and despite a great save from Joe, encroachment saw the kick retaken and scored. John Jo’s free kick was turned home by Sam to make the score 2-5 but again Walcountians broke quickly down the left and scored a 6th from a narrow angle. The Blues did not give up and Nathan was unlucky after a great run saw him just over run the ball . He then despatched a penalty to give a final score of 3-6 to Walcountians.

  The verdict on this game was that although the score was 3-6 this was slightly flattering to the visitors as we did enjoy the majority of possession and chances in the first period. However in Football nothing comes easy and we were very sloppy and undisciplined in our defending today. We need to cut out giving away needless penalties and have more communication between our defenders. I saw this season as a development season for virtually a brand new team and we are a little further forward than I thought so that is a positive. Well done to all the boys for your performances so far this season and let’s come back after the break focused for the second half of the season which promises to be tough. We finished today with a slap up meal in the Chippy for the boys and parents in Feltham that was enjoyed by everyone especially the proprietors.

  Thank you today to Jason and Pete Morris for helping me put up the goals and get the pitch ready. Also thanks to George for Refereeing and to Jack Pearce for running the line. Thanks to Nick and his Walcountians team for a very competitive game of Football and good luck for the rest of the season. A big thank you to all the parents for their support both today and since August, your Christmas gift today was well appreciated.

Finally thank you to all the boys in the squad for listening (most of the time !!) and for your hard work to date this season..

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy 2007.

Scorers – Nathan 2 (1 pen), Sam

Squad – Joe, Lewis,Adam,Simon, Marco, Nathan, Daniel S, John Jo, Sam , Turnell, Leon, Toby , Anthony , Richard , Daniel Q