U15s battle hard for the win against Manorcroft.

The u15's came up against a tough Manorcoft side for the first time this season and we opened the scoring early on with a tidy finish from Jamie Smith on 10 mins. However, a combination of poor decision-making, a penalty, and a gift of a backpass saw Manorcroft take a 3-1 lead with only 18 minutes on the clock.

Oustanding goals from the Stetner brothers (Dawid with a long-range effort from a tight angle & Sammy with a cool finish after being played through) saw Abbey draw level on 32 minutes and we went into the break with our heads up, knowing that the win was still on.

The message at halftime was simple; cut out the silly mistakes, compete physically and we will take all 3 points. However, we did none of that for the start of the second half, and only dogged defending and some smart saves from Lucas Neto saw us keep the score at 3-3.

On 65 minutes an incisive breakaway from Ethan Austin saw him pick up the ball from deep, before beating his man and slotting it home to give us a 4-3 lead. Jamie Smith then followed this up with another well-taken finish on 79 minutes, which saw us pick up the win and run out 5-3 winners in a hard-fought game.

The boys battled hard for the full 80 minutes today and whilst we may have made it more of an uphill struggle than it needed to be, their attitude and effort showed what they are about.

Man of the Match: Jack Harrington. Calm and solid throughout.