13/09/09

Toddington Rovers Under9’s

V

Valley Sport (Stevenage Borough)

Firstly let me say a massive thank you to all who attended this morning’s game, and to Valley Sport for giving us such a great game. Congratulations to Paul & Annie, Samuel and Jonah on the birth of Jemiah Jayne. Get well also to Callum Herber,

Samuel and Callum could not be there today so best wishes to them both.

Kick off started at 10.00 am with the starting line up being Aiden Wright ( C )Alex Browne (RB) Owen Davidson ( LB ) Matthew Jones ( LM ) Callum Livings ( DM ) Daniel Hamm ( S ) Paul Williams ( G ). Francesca Milburn ( reserve )

Valley Sport started the proceedings and quickly gained possession of the ball. Within minutes Callum and Alex were quickly on the defence and regained possession, the ball was cleared into midfield towards Aiden; Valley sports put in a great tackle and cleared it, to leave us with a throw in. It was unfortunate that it managed to reach Their number 2, which then crossed it over towards our goalie Paul who grabbed it for a great, save. Paul and his great skills kicked it out to reach Matty, who then proceeded to take it up towards their goal, with a good attempt at scoring. However their goalkeeper was quick on his toes and got the save. With the ball now in play, Callum and Matty and Owen and Aiden trying really hard to keep the ball in our possession, it wasn’t to be and Valley Sports got the goal. First half 1- 0.

After a good team talk our boys were back, struggling for control in the 1st half, this proved not to be the case in the 2^nd half as our boys were not about to let the other side take over. With a good start Aiden quickly took control and made a good pass to Dan, but then the other side were a bit too quick and got the tackle. On clearing the ball Callum dived in for a stupendous tackle on their number 8 but managed to take the player down instead, after a shake of hands the game resumed, time for a substitution Owen off, Fran on.

Our boys and girl put in some absolutely blinding tackles and were consistently on the defence throughout, until, that is that their number 5 nearly scored only to kick it out of our goal instead of scoring it. Ha Ha. With the score still 1 – 0 Owen was to be brought back on for the last 15 minutes with Matty as the sub, Dan was then brought off 5 mins later and Matty rejoined the team. During this time Owen got possession of the ball with a great pass from Matty to put us back in the game by scoring a superb goal. 1-1

This tension was unbelievable as all the boys played really hard and battled with all their might. This was not a team that was going to get beaten without a fight. With only 7 minutes to go and it looking as if Valley Sports were about to score again when Francesca and Alex got stuck in to clear the ball out. This time a corner taken by their number 9 put the ball into the box area, Paul quickly got to the ball but it escaped, with our defence right in there Callum, Matty and Aiden were able to get the ball back and in between all the tackling, the other side retrieved it and the ball very nearly went in the goal but Paul saved the day again. Well Done Paul. In the final few minutes Aiden took the ball, passed it to Matty it was then heading out but Alex, with the other side quick on our boys heels and going in for the tackle again Alex’s quick thinking headed the ball and cleared it out. Soon after they gave us a corner. Aiden was ready to take one his fab corners and was right on the mark kicking it directly into the box. But their defence was very strong and cleared it away. Whistle blew for a final result a blinding 1 –1 all draw. This was a great result for our first game of the season, our boys battled really hard against a team of superb quality. If this continues throughout the season we can look forward to some really cracking matches. WELL DONE TODDINGTON.