Match Report - CRADLEY TOWN DC U12 COLTS - 28 Sep 2025

It would be easy to be disappointed with the score but that would gloss over the massive improvements from last week's game.

Cradley are currently top of the league having won all their games but we absolutly bossed it for the first 25 minutes. Once we went behind we did get a bit more desperate and our passing wasn't as crisp.

We spoke at the start of the game about not getting drawn into a street fight with them as we know they are a difficult team to play. On the plus side, we gave as good as we got, put our foot in and didn't back down, we gave fouls away but always trying to win the ball, the shows how commited we were. This may have been a reason why we went away from our passing though so really important we keep our composure moving forwards, a good lesson for the boys.

We also need to make sure we play to the whistle and are chasing down the second/ third ball. We won a lot of 50/50s but the jobs not done till we have the ball.

I don't usually talk about the referee but today I'm going to make an exception because the scoreline would have been closer if he had performed to the level we expect. A penalty that wasn't given at 3-1 where the defender made a great save and their fouth that literally carried over the line by the striker before being dropped and kicked in, leaving us rightly aggrieved.

Bringing it back to 3-2 would have changed the game. When both coaches agree you know somethings up.

Overall, that's how we need to play going forward, just make sure we play to the whistle, make that final pass and keep the aggression we'll be heading in the right direction.