Petts Wood Phoenix U13s vs Orpington Rovers Pumas
0 - 3
02 September 2018 · Tandridge Youth Football League<br>Central
Away friendly match played on 02 September 2018.
Kicked off at 10:00 AM
0-3
vs Petts Wood Phoenix U13s
Away friendly match
A brace for Ace on debut gets season off to a flyer.
First game of the season for the U13s Pumas saw an away friendly against a new team to the Tandridge League Division South from the Petts Wood FC stable who had previously played in the Selkent League.
As we were still officially in school holiday time we were missing three of our squad in Sam, Dylan and George but were helped out by Adam as our 12th man. The weather had certainly warmed up several degrees compared to recent temperatures which only added to the new challenges of playing 11-a-side on bigger pitches for 70 minutes although today's game was close to a full 90 minute game!
The team lined up with Brandon in goal, defensive duties by Ben, Joe, James and Connor, midfield consisted of Luke, Jacob, Tom and Logan with Ace and Gino forming our strikers. Adam started on the bench.
The initial pressure came from Phoenix who had a couple of key players in attack but we defended well and Brandon was alert.
With 14 minutes gone Tom received the ball on the edge of the D, beat his player and fed the ball to Gino who was coming in from the right. Gino's shot came back off the bar and Logan was on hand to poach his and the team's first goal of the new campaign.
Phoenix continued to pressure us but Ben, Joe, James and Connor were holding firm until the 21st minute when a penalty was awarded following a foul in the box. Great work followed by Brandon as he kept the shot out and maintained our lead.
A few minutes later we made our first change with Adam coming on for Tom on 25 minutes. An enforced change was made shortly after as Luke twisted his ankle so Tom was back on after a 5 minute breather.
Half time came and we had a slender 1-0 lead. The team was playing very well and the new players had settled in nicely.
With 5 minutes of the second half gone Brandon launched a big kick that bounced in the Phoenix half giving Ace (who would give Usain Bolt a good run for his money) something to chase down. Even though the oppo's keeper was favourite, Ace covered the ground with consummate ease getting to the ball first and putting it into the back of the net to give us a deserved 2 goal lead.
Luke's 10 minute rest was sufficient for him to recover and he replaced Adam on 44 minutes. The game was fairly evenly matched with chances being created by Phoenix and Pumas alike.
On 57 minutes Ben played a long ball forward and once again Ace chased it down beating a defender to the ball and putting it beyond the keeper for our third.
On the hour Adam came back on to replace Jacob as we looked to see out the game. The 70 minutes came and went and the last 5 minutes saw a lot of pressure from Phoenix but committed tackles from Connor helped keep them at bay.
The final whistle eventually sounded and we had managed to keep a clean sheet and record a very good win against good opposition.