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2008\9 Season Under 16s |
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Match Reports |
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Home Vs Crusaders |
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It has been a long time since Holywell Harriers had been involved in a cup run to this extent and we had drawn a local team from Div 2 in Crusaders infact a couple of their lads played with Holywell last year in the early part of 2007\8 season so it was nice to welcome them back.
The kits were an interesting clash with both teams having green shorts and socks, but after a word with ref who seemed happy to use his judgement then the game got underway as an unusual early morning KO at home.
The pitch was very dry and quite uneven, but it was the same for both sides as it had dried out from earlier soakings this winter\spring.
The game was quite a tense affair with Freddie running the channels cleverly and the width being maintained to keep them stretched, but at the same time they had some nice neat moves up front challenging our defence to keep concentration and maintain their discipline.
A couple of early scares for their defence as Freddie and Matt P ran clear became the pattern of play with their defence and midfield clearing long on a number of occasions, luckily Matt S and Reiss were well on their game and let nothing through. A nice piece of play down out left into the centre and back out to the left set Matt P away and he struck the ball firmly into the left corner for a great and well deserved goal.
1:0 at half time was well deserved with the team playing collectively well, it was just a matter of keeping it going and not switching off, we changed the team around to make sure we used power as well as pace and maintained the width and some skill by getting Wesley and Taniya on the pitch at various times in the second half in fact Wesley had a few half chances to score. Jack was playing well at RB as was Ollie H at left back as their central midfield players started to get on the ball more and more we had to stop them from finding their range.. Matt P got more involved in midfield as Darrell had gone off injured and once again we started to boss the game with a number of corners and penetrating attacks to the heart of the defence, but unfortunately no end product. Then with 10 mins to go they had a clear sight of goal but a brilliant low down save by our GK kept the score at 1:0 and it was just a few minutes later when Matt P our top goal scorer both in the league and cup was again able to slot the ball in the net with a nice left foot strike. 2: 0 and Crusaders were beaten as we are developing a stronger mentality not to give sides a chance when we get ahead. The lads played the game out to a conclusion and once again the whole squad was needed even though Aaron did not get on this week but he was there and available many thanks to him as you never know as shown in previous games when you need to quickly get another body on. This game was just too tight to call right up until the last 10 mins 2: 0 to Holywell and semi finals here we come!!!! |
