Saturday 31st March
vs. Active Soccer 1-4
Team: Matty; Elliot, Tom,
Joe, Adam; Danny, Lewis, Caleb (capt.), Jacob; Josh, Ciarán S. Sub: Cormac.
Active Soccer gained revenge
for their defeat four days earlier as the boys put in a sleepy performance.
Overnight illness made
Ciarán B an absentee and so a reshuffle was needed as Matty went between the
posts and Adam filled in at left back. To his credit, Matty did an excellent
job and his Man of the Match award was well merited.
Active started as if they meant
business and the boys struggled to get out of first gear. They went behind in
the 3rd minute after an attack down the left was not cleared to
touch and Matty was left with no chance on the shot.
Matty was needed to make
another good save after 6 minutes and then Elliot and Tom teamed up to keep
them at bay. It took fully 10 minutes for the midfield to work some attacking
space. From the resulting corner, Ciarán S headed wide after a weak punch from
the keeper.
As they finally began to
make things more difficult for their opponents, they got their reward in the 12th
minute. Josh had set up Lewis to fire narrowly wide from long range before some
neat footwork from Jacob set up Adam on the overlap. His cross was whipped in
and was too much for the keeper who could only drop it at Ciarán S’s feet to
equalise.
A swerving shot watched into
his hands kept Matty busy but they were soon causing problems again at the
other end. A goal bound volley from Joe from Lewis’ corner was blocked to
safety and as they broke out, it needed a brave header from Elliot to stop the
attack.
Most of Active’s chances in
the first half were from long range and Matty was equal to them all – a great
defensive header from Caleb after Matty’s parry had gone for a corner kept the
scores level and then the midfielder nearly found one of those gaps they
exploited so well on Tuesday to send Josh away on the right.
The midfield were battling
for the ball now, with Caleb and Lewis linking better, looking for the pass or
the space and not panicking on the ball. Ciarán S was just beaten to Josh’s
pass by the keeper and, along with Lewis the three again forced the Active
defence to concede a corner.
Adam’s defensive duties
prevented a break on the boys’ left but with half time beckoning, they fell
behind after some poor refereeing. Joe was shielding the ball back to the keeper
when he was bundled over and the forward rounded Matty to score as the boys waited for the whistle
for the blatant foul.
If that left the boys with a
sense of injustice, it served to fire up Active Soccer who started the second
half brightly. Matty proved himself stronger than the defenders around him to
keep them out in the 30th minute and needed Elliot’s help to clear
off the line after the dawdling midfield was easily by-passed.
The third Active Soccer goal
was coming, though, and the boys were again exposed down the right after 35
minutes from another (foul) throw and two forwards were queuing up at the back
post to score. Having reminded Ian that Matty should not stray out of the box
with his clearances, the referee was nevertheless willing to allow Active
Soccer to regularly stand well over the line to take the throw-ins…
The boys knew it wasn’t
going to be their day three minutes later as Active scored again. Ian had not
left the pitch after treating Adam for a knock and the defence was getting into position as the referee allowed the corner – which was also an incorrect
decision - to be taken straight away and the Active forward rose at the back
post to score.
Matty was confident at his
near post after some weak defending allowed the shot from a narrow angle as the
boys looked to restore some pride, went to three at the back and Adam pushed
forward. It nearly paid dividends as Josh found some space, but the ball stuck
under his feet and then Jacob forced a great double save out of the keeper,
only for Caleb’s header from the corner to go wide.
They continued to try and
play football as a run of passes through the midfield showed what they can do
and put the Active defence on the back foot. Cormac replaced Danny for the last
eight minutes with a fresh pair of legs, covering back and trying to link up
going forward.
Late team changes, along
with some of the boys having been away with the school and a few knocks – Danny
was just back from injury, Tom hobbled through the match and Elliot was not
moving freely – contributed to the poor performance but Active Soccer had shown
in their fight back in the semi final what they were capable of. It has to be
said that some shoddy refereeing also played its part – he was even slow to
respond to the Active player on the ground holding his head in the second half.
The break in matches for Easter and training sessions on grass will give the
boys the time to regroup before the Cup Final, provisionally arranged for a few
days after some other semi final between YNWA and Z-Cars.
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