Mexborough Athletic U12 6 vs 0 Bawtry Juniors Football Cl

Mexborough (A) 0-6

This result, whilst frustrating, does not define the team. What matters now is rebuilding confidence, clarity, and resilience.

As previously mentioned following the friendly last week, it’s about mindset and structure.

Over the summer we lost: 2/3 of our goals, our main sources of pace, our natural transitions up the pitch and our goalkeeper.

At any level, losing pace, goals and a keeper at the same time is a major shift. At grassroots, this combination would challenge even well-established teams like ours.

We are now trying to rebuild all of that with 1 hour 30 minutes of training a week, and that takes time.

The fundamental changes: reduced pace, diminished counter threat, less confidence, slower reactions, heads dropping, less physicality, lost tackles, hesitation in clearances, all leads to the goals being conceded which impacts the team with a psychological dip and a cycle of the above.

This leads to us defending deeper, absorbing pressure, and creating fewer chances. The recent 8–0 and 6–0 scorelines are not because the players are “bad”, they reflect how dramatically the team’s structure has changed. We will shift to a more compact formation for the next fixture, but formations are only that, if we do not improve our resilience.

Jack and I (and from some of the conversations we have had with parents) we see two distinct patterns: 1. Rushing in good areas because of panic 2. Hesitation in defensive areas when a simple clearance is needed These are mindset issues, not ability issues.

We now focus on getting back to basics: • Being difficult to beat • Winning tackles • Clearing our lines • Staying compact • Rebuilding confidence • Playing without fear This is the foundation for everything else.

We will improve, not through drastic changes, but through consistent basics, clear roles, and growing confidence.

Hopefully the officiating will improve as well, as there was a clear hand ball for a penalty when the game was 0-0 and in the second half their keeper was 5 yards outside his box when he kicked the ball which led directly to a goal. Anyway we move on….

There were pockets of excellent play, in both halves. The team showed moments of bravery, good passing, and willingness to compete. That is what we build on. Typified none more so than another excellent performance from Seth Woolf and our two players of the match:

PPotM ?? Elijah CPotM ?? Ivy (C)