Kirton and Copdock 15th November 2008

This season we have filled as many empty weeks as possible with friendlies. It was inevitable that one of these would clash with the B teams glorious cup run!!

We had arranged our first 11 a side game against Copdock FC at the start of the season. The B's were drawn at home to Kirton but had to play the fixture at Martlesham!! Luckily we managed to scrape enough players together to play both fixtures.

I'll start with the Copdock game as I only saw the first 15 minutes before I had to rush across town to sort out the cup game.

Copdock are an under 12 team and were playing their 11th game of the season. Our little under 11's were playing their 1st. At this age group we play on a three quarter size pitch if available. The pitch today was not only a full size pitch but a big one at that!! Not forgetting the slope!
A definite baptism of fire.

For the brief part of the game that I saw, I was very pleased with the way the boys started. Steve H had mocked up a tactics board using the grass and a load of cones to give a the boys an idea of the extra positions involved. We opted with a 3-5-2 formation but will try others in other games. Nothing too complicated!!
We stuck to our positions and spent most of the first 10 minutes in their half. Copdock finally managed to get their first attack under way and scored! 0-1.
We kicked off and pushed forward again. A lovely through ball set Matty through on the keeper, he managed to slide it past him into the net, only for the goal to be chopped off by the ref who deemed it offside! I was level with the players as was the linesman(who didn't flag) and he was clearly onside. This is something we will all have to get used to next season. It's very frustrating and you mustn't shout at the ref!! Like I did!!
I had to leave but by all accounts the boys played very well. With only one sub they all had to run their socks off. We eventually lost 4-0. But we had another goal disallowed (I can't comment on this one) and scored an own goal. The Copdock manager told Steve that this was the hardest game they had had all season.

Overall a great performance. We have more 11 aside games organised after Christmas so more to look forward to.

B Game

The B's had made it through to the second round of the cup and were drawn once again against first division opposition. Our local rivals Kirton Kestrels. Their A team were drawn away to Martlesham so we had to play there. Martlesham won 3-1.

Our squad was Harley in goal, Kyle in defence, Dan, Keiran and Cameron across midfield, Nat and Jake up front with Alex and Charlie on the bench.

The game kicked off and we went straight into attack. Within 30 seconds a great ball from Keiran found Nat who banged it in to make it 1-0.

Kirton kicked off and ran up the pitch, Kyle hesitated before lungeing into a clumsy challenge to give away a clear penalty. Harley had no chance with the well taken kick and it was 1-1 with barely 2 minutes played.
We kicked off and attacked. This time Keirans pass found Jake who finished it well to regain the lead 2-1. With only 3 minutes on the clock. What a start to the game. We had to wait a staggering 20 minutes for the next goal!!!

We totally dominated the rest of the half. Kyle had settled down after his dodgy start and was solid at the back. Dan who had started brightly in midfield was puting in some nice passes and resisting the temptation to drop back to his favoured defensive role. Keiran was having another great game, breaking down their attacks and making good runs. The only thing lacking today was his final pass. Cammy was also having a good game. Winning the ball and playing simple passes. Just how we work it in training. Both front runners, Nat and Jake with a goal each under their belt looked dangerous every time we got the ball forward.
Kirton manged to push forward a few times and almost equalised with a well struck shot through a crowded box into the bottom corner. Harley somehow managed to throw himself the entire length of the goal and turn it round the post for a terrific save. who knows what the outcome would have been had that gone in.

Eventually after 23 minutes another great ball from Keiran again found Jake who belted in his second of the game. 3-1. You might have noticed that I have mentioned Keirans final pass and yet he has set up all three of our goals!! It's an indication of how much of the ball Keiran was winning for the team. Either that or I'm just miserable and hard to please!!
As ususal in this game the goals came in batches. A minute later a nice ball from Alex found Nat on the edge of the box with his back to goal. He managed to turn his defender and slot in a precision shot to the back post. 4-1 was the halftime score.

Dan had to be replaced by Alex towards the end of the half with an injured knee. I tested him in the second half but he was honest enough to admit he couldn't run on it and took no further part in the game. Jake made way for Charlie.

Once again we dominated from the kick off. We played Kirton in a friendly and we lost 6-3 recently. We lost 4 quick goals that day by switching off for a few minutes. This time we held our concentration and were rewarded when Keiran(who as we know can't pass a ball!) got the ball across to Charlie who let loose a thunderbolt to make it 5-1.

The rest of the game went by in a blur. Kirton managed to get one back to make it 5-2. harley made a good save from a corner, Kyle managed to keep their efforts away from goal and the midfielders continued to work hard helping in defence and getting forward when needed. The only downside was the strikers were not getting the ball as much as they could have. We often had 2 against 1 up front but the final pass was going to the 1 defender!! luckily for us we were 3 goals up but on another day we might have been chasing the goals.

The final score was 5-2. Another good performance and another step towards potential cup glory!! We are now in the quarter finals.

Man of the Match was Cammy. He battled tirelessly for the whole game and deserves recognition for barely puting a foot wrong. A special mention goes to Keiran, another superb performance and again set up most of the goals. Also a mention for Kyle who redeemed his penalty howler with a solid game at the back.

The final word goes to the Kirton manager (My mate Big Steve) Who once he got over his shellshock thought we were superb and fully deserved the game. I've known this guy for almost 20years and he's not easily impressed!!! At least he wasn't with me when we played together!!