Ashridge Park Royals –Under 11s - Aug-Sep 07 Highlights
Friendly v Crusaders (Won 4-0) “Great start”
With Eoghain missing and Will C not well Jake and Sam were offered the chance to play against Div1/2 standard team but only Jake was available.
The Royals tried out a 2 strikers approach and some different positions for the players. Jake made an immediate impact with his speed and strong tackling playing in the middle. Stephen & Mark combined well to create chances and Stephen did very well when moved into defence particularly against the aerial assault. Louis moved from defence to midfield and scored with his wrong foot yet again. Will F & Jake controlled the pace of the game from the middle but there chances at both ends. Mark scored with his left and got his 2nd in H2 and Dominic pushed forward to score the 4th with a delightful outside of the foot finish.
Jake had moved to right back by now and made the tackle of the match whilst Stephen looked impressive as the No.2 goalkeeper to Matt who was enjoying the midfield role.
* Mark & Louis scoring with their weaker feet.
* Jake’s slide tackle to save a certain goal in H2
Friendly v California Stingrays (Lost 1-0) “ Back with a bump”
Back to full strength of 9 players the Royals paid the price for just a single lapse of concentration as well as coming up against an exceptional Div1 goalkeeper. Injuries took their toll as some Div1 style tackles were flying in and for much of the game the Royals had 2 players receiving treatment on the touchline.
The Stingrays were quite physical and out muscled the Royals in certain areas although Dominic captain came close on a couple of occasions forcing through from midfield but in fairness Matt kept us in the game with another one of ‘those saves’ at point blank range!
* Matt’s ‘Gordon Banks style’ save in the 2nd Half.
* Great spirit & resolve despite numerous injuries.
Friendly v Wokingham & Emmbrook (Won 8-2) “ Goalfest”
Sean missed out on this game although the 8 remaining players were not troubled too much by a side that struggled to cope with the pace & strength of the Royals.
This was another opportunity to try out some different positions. Dominic lead the line up front and his, Stephen’s and Louis’ goals won the game by half time going in 5-0. Eoghain completed a solo effort with a sublime finish (despite players ‘lining up’ to score) and Stephen completed a hatrick in a 2nd half that was more competitive and saw W&E continue to pass the ball well and sometimes find only Royals defender to stop 3 attackers. One particular player impressed for the other team but he will take no consolation from being reminded of the scoreline by school mates Matt & Will F.
We also enjoyed another penalty shoot-out after the game with just Mark & Eoghain scoring.
* Matt’s throw into the opposition’s half much to their surprise.
* Eoghain’s great solo effort & sublime finish.
* Stephen’s hatrick and sidefooted volley.
Friendly v Ascot Utd Racing (Won 4-2) “Who needs a pitch?”
With Matt injured and no pitch marked and goals to unpack & assemble it could be said that pre-match preparations had not gone quite to plan but the cones for a touchline didn’t phase the players and we enjoyed a fantastic game of football.
Sean having made vital interceptions early on put a wonder pass through to Eoghain that sliced through the Ascot defence and it was 1-0. Stephen had a cracker in goal as Ascot fought back. Mark went agonisingly close and ended up in agony after colliding with the Ascot GK. Will C came on to replace Mark and linked up well with Eoghain Dominic had an imperious first half playing at right back with nothing getting past him. Eoghain went in goal in H2 and was displaying great handling as he lept to pluck a corner out of the air. Ascot were looking dangerous from set pieces and against the flow got the equaliser but within minutes it seemed Mark was first to react to a rebound after a blast from Dominic and the Royals were back in front. Yet again Ascot scored from a set piece and the sides were level. As the legs got tired the game opened up further and as Dominic struck a goal bound shot Sean got a touch on it to wrong foot the GK and put the Royals back in the lead 3-2 and now with renewed energy Sean playing as striker was chasing everything down and causing headaches for Ascot and he calmly lifted the ball over the advancing GK into an empty net the celebrations really started up. Will F played unchanged at Left Back through the heat and Louis found himself with space down the left to run at the Ascot defence. Will C made som crunching tackles down the right as Stephen was given a chance to cool his head down with some ice. Fantastic display of football just a real injustice that the result cannot stand as Ascot were not happy to play on a non regulation pitch.
* Stephen & Eoghain standing in brilliantly for our injured GK.
* Sean’s great lob to beat the advancing GK to cap his best ever performance in an Ashridge shirt.
League V Pinewood Pumas (Won 1-0) “ History in the making”
Certainly a good job this game counted for the league. – The Pumas lost only their 3rd game of football in about 3 years but as for the Royal this was 2 out of 2 (if we include the 10minute tournament semi-final.
With Jamie off to Portsmouth and the GK now at Reading this looked like it was going to be a really close game and it sure was.
Royals played 3 at the back to try and stifle the Pumas and hit them on the break but the larger pitch meant this was difficult to sustain for long periods.
Will F was superb at left back throughout the whle game & quite often the ‘last defender’ against the very quick Pumas striker. Injury forced changes to the formation yet again with Sean moving from left to the middle giving Louis a chance down the left and cam close with a big bouncing long shot. Eoghain pulled back in to midfield to help consolidate but bringing Stephen back on upfront did the trick – as his low drive across the goal found its way underneath the Pumas GK. The game was end to end until part way through the 2nd half the Pumas built some sustained pressure forcing Will C to do a magnificent job to stifle the No.10 running the game from midfield. – but by now Matt was ‘in the zone’ and looking unbeatable and the Royals still broke away in H2 through Mark & Eoghain getting first a free kick and then what semed to be a suspicion of a penalty as Eoghain was bundled off the ball just as he was trying shoot. – The shots continues to rain in from the Pumas and Dominics toes recovered in time to make a miraculous last ditch sliding tackle. Sean captain for the day played the whole 60mins and kept the team going until the most eagerly awaited final whistle went to start ‘Cup Final’ type celebrations amongst the Royals.
What a Game!
* The goal that made the difference from Stephen
* Matt absolutely brilliant display of goalkeeping
* Will C for the job on the no.10 as well as crucial interceptions /headers.
* Mark & Dom for coming back and working hard after taking nasty knocks/injuries.
Cup 1st Round V Bracknell Cavaliers (Div2) (Won 4-0) - “Overpowered”
The Royals are going to have become accustomed to going intosome matches as Red Hot favourites now and were certainly good value for their first half display going in 2-0 up having completely shut out the cavaliers and captain Stephen celbrated his birthday with a well taken goal and Eoghain scored a long range strike that must be a candidate for goal of the season already and it is still only September.- The excellent BCavs GK had no chance with that or the 2 goals that were scored in H2 as well. Will F approaching at the far post to meet a cross from Will C and Dominic who certainly was going to miss his One-on One having sprinted all the way from the half way line having been promoted to striker for the last part of the game. Will C had possibly his best game for the club playing down the left & right flanks in midfield (and came close to scoring in H1) and Louis put in an outstanding display at left back moved into midfield and could have grabbed a goal if the bounce had been kinder. Matt like all good GKs kept his concentration and was ready to react when the BCavs did get through. So a possibly banana skin avoided as the Royal overpowered the Cavs despite a poor playing surface and one or two odd decisions from the ref choosing to restart with a drop ball after a dangerous tackle-
* Louis most accomplished performance at left back.
* Will C’s fantastic and tenacious performance in on the midfield flanks.
* A wonder strike from long range by Eoghain into the top left corner of the goal.
* A great finish by Will F coming in at the far post to meet a cross.
Ashridge Park Royals –Under 11s - Oct 07 Highlights
League v California Stingrays (Lost 1-0) “Game of 2 halves?
Against just an 8 man Stingrays team the Royals looked really sharp in the first half and created numerous chances with Eoghain at the centre of the action and he came closest with a shot that crashed against the left upright. Another superb run down the wing and left footed cross was just out of Mark’s reach with the GK beaten. Sean looked to be bossing the midfield and linking the play well with Mark & Louis who were then replaced by the two Wills & they both made immediate impacts with Will C drilling a super shot low only for the GK to save with his feet.
During a crazy 10 minutes in the 2nd half the Royals seemed to loose their shape & concentration and with more injuries forcing substitutions the Stingrays sniffed their chance to force their way back into the game and in the end deserved their goal and despite more heroics from Matt and another sturdy upright it could have been more.
The Royals pushed hard for the equaliser and still created more chances but just couldn’t finish A mixture of some off field distractions and playing on the bigger pitch can be attributed to the loss of concentration but again this game was played at break-neck pace with end to end action throughout. The Royals cant be too disappointed with some really excellent football & passing in what was a very enjoyable and thrilling match.
* Eoghain’s superbly hit left foot cross across the face of the goal.
* Great defensive heading from Louis and Stephen.
League v Binfield Bulls (Drew 3-3) “Not quite the expected ‘pushover’ ”
Pre-match preps weren’t great with Louis pulling up injured in the warm-up but Will C stepped into the left midfield role with great gusto.
The Royals got off to a fortunate start with a speculative effort from Eoghain being deflected past the unlucky Binfield GK. – This spurred the Bulls into action and they responded instantly to equalize as they attacked down our left and put in well directed crosses to the far post and before we knew it we were 2-1 down to the bottom of the league. Matt came out to meet a corner brilliantly when a headed goal looked likely with the Royals seemingly in a bit of daze. Sean went up for a big header straight from the GK’s fly kick to earn another MM and gradually the Royals despite being pushed all over the park came back into the game. Although disaster struck as yet another cross wasn’t dealt with by the Royals early in the 2nd half and the the Royals were now staring down the barrel - but what a reaction the coach got from his team.
Eoghain & Mark found renewed energy and started to create havoc in the Bulls defence and when Mark pulled one back with the coolest of finishes to lift over the advancing GK after a mesmerising run and perfect pass from Eoghain the crowd started to really get behind the Royals. There was still plenty of time left but time and again the Bulls GK pulled off save after save until Dominic stormed up to meet Mark’s corner on the half-volley to launch an ‘exocet’ shot into the top left corner of the net to be met by amazing scenes of euphoria on the touch line (as well as on the pitch –Mrs Lepillier). Binfield still came back again to create another chance before the final whistle but another 5 minutes on the game and I think the Royals may have sneaked a win…. but it wasn’t to be.
* Sean’s great header on the halfway line from a fly-kick.
* Mark cool finish after and a superb assist from Eoghain.
* Dominic’s unstoppable equalizer from a corner - 2nd candidate for goal of the season already!
League v Whitegrove Eagles (Lost 4-1) “ Eagles still flying high”
This was the first time in quite a while that the Royals went into a match as an ‘underdog’ and did well to focus on the task in the first half despite less than perfect pre-match preps with players being late, mums with hangovers and a couple of players that hadn’t slept an awful lot in the preceeding week. –Not to mention an absent referee and a deflated match ball!
Will C was giving the tough job of marking no14 and was brilliant throughout the match causing the Eagles to rethink their tactics. The smaller pitch at Cantley didn’t help either side as through passes were tended to be overhit but the superior one touch pass & move from Whitegrove was proving difficult to withstand. Yet another injury to Dom put him out of action and Mark took a breather in H1 but came back strongly in H2. Louis put in another strong performance at left back but at times had 2 or 3 attackers to deal with ata time in H2. The Royals picked up a bit of lesson on shooting from outside the box as Matt was given little chance as the ball came through a bunch of players unsighting him. Will F found some space on the left as the Eagles went looking for more goals and Mark, Eoghain & Sean were now also able to find some space now that Whitegrove had made the game safe. – Sean was rewarded for at least getting his low shot on target as the GK fumbled it and with a driving run down the middle in the closing seconds should have got a 2nd but for a great save. Eoghain yet again found a sturdy left upright to frustrate him having tried his best against a strong defence. Special mention also goes to Stephen who in the right back position he is beginning to make his own pulled off a miracle clearance on the goal line to cap a magnificent display.
* Stephen’s great performance at right back & clearance off the line.
* Will C best performance of the season so far to close out the Eagles best player.
Thanks to David Lyons as the stand-in referee and doing a great job!
