Match Report - SPONDON ROVERS U13'S - 03 Jul 2019

On a very warm night this was always going to be a tough game against tough opposition. Spondon are a long established div 1 team who really are extremely well organised..... and it showed !

The first half started incredibly well considering who we were up against and although we went into the break 3-1 down, the team certainly hadn't been outclassed and Spondon knew they were in a game. Shaun got a nasty blow to the nose which meant changes had to happen at the back earlier than I had hoped which did mess the team talk up a bit but the boys soon regrouped, dug deep and worked hard together to cover the gaps. Shayne got himself on the scoresheet with an absolute cracker of a goal and he even managed to organise the players well, changing there positions and the formation from time to time but who was I to argue after that goal lol !! I absolutely loved his enthusiasm and his cheeky laugh every time I questioned him !!

The second half was unfortunately plagued with tiredness and injuries. Jeevan, Jayden and Shay all asked to come off with knocks and fatigue and poor Shaun who I think would have played for ever was taken off by me as I didn't want him over doing things with his first half injury. Against tough opposition having to play players out of position to cover, particularly when tired and on a hot day like this was a massive blow and the gaps started to widen. Being the class team that they were, Spondon unfortunately capitalised on this and the goals soon started coming.

Id like to think that games like this are character building and for 50 minutes, Spondon really had there hands full. The beauty of playing these higher teams is the lads can see what they need to be doing moving forward and when we do play teams of similar ability to ourselves, hopefully this experience will shine through. On another night with less injuries things could have been very different.

Man of the match for me tonight was Ben who really has been extremely consistent every time I've watched him play and his work rate is simply, second to none. He looked a natural along side the rock Jeevan early in the first half, anyone watching would have thought they had played together in these positions for years.

Anyway onto the next one, Bargate, a very physical division 3 team but the win is ours for the taking so early night everyone on Saturday and lets show them what we're made of !! Hopefully having Brendan back at the helm will give us a little bit of luck that I think the lads truly deserve and get us back to our winning ways.