Under 15s show fighting spirit

Playing for the first time since the beginning of December, the u15s were away to Bookham and one look at the pitch told us we were in for scrappy game. It was a bare, sodden, boggy public park and wouldn't have looked out of place on an army assault course. Playing quick, one and two-touch football was going to be a struggle.

As soon as the game started the ball was getting stuck under the players' feet and both teams looked like they were auditioning for Dancing on Ice as they slid about and struggled to stay upright. However, we started brightly and Jamie Smith could've had an early tap in on 20 minutes but he wasn't in the right position to turn it home. Typically, Bookham capitalized a minute later and took the lead with a tidy finish. 1-0 to Bookham. 21 minutes played.

Despite going a goal down, the boys didn't let it affect them and we were level just 60 seconds later when Dawid Stetner slotted the ball home with a well-placed finish. 1-1.

The game restarted and the lads were really struggling to do anything tidy in possession. The ball continued to stick in the mud though and every through-ball was slowed right down or never made it to the target. On 30 minutes Charlie Izzard headed a ball which he didn't meet correctly, leaving him slightly dazed but ok to continue. Charlie soldiered on and we'll let him have it as an excuse for scoring an own goal 2 minutes later when his headed back-pass rolled into our own net and gave Bookham a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for Charlie his day didn't get any better and a ball to the face just moments later saw him hit the deck like Derek Trotter falling through an open bar. Game over for Charlie.

The boys came off the pitch at halftime knowing that they'd been unlucky so far and they were giving Bookham a real game in difficult conditions. A couple of poor challenges and poor sportsmanship from the Bookham players had riled our lads, so they were itching to get back out and prove a point. Our message to thethem was any easy one: knock it long. Clearly the pitch wasn't going to let them play the way we want them to play and long balls over the top would catch out Bookhamscenter-backs sooner rather than later.

With that in mind, we started the second half well and sent balls forward at every opportunity. The boys kept on working hard and kept plugging away but Bookham defended well and somehow managed to keep us out. Several incidents followed and the match started to get tasty - our lads were taking a lot of late, heavy challenges from the Bookham players and there were more than a few occasions where they got kicked from behind well after the ball had gone. They gave as good as they got though and were soon getting stuck in - Jaysen Patel, Josh O'neil, George Marshall & the Stetner boys all making a number of strong (yet fair) tackles.

On 69 minutes we got our reward when Sammy Stetner was taken out in the box by 2 Bookham players who had no intention of playing the ball. Sammy stepped up to take it ... 2-2. Never in doubt.

The last 10 minutes of the game were frenetic and although we worked the ball into the Bookham third a number of times, we struggled to get our shots off or create any clear-cut chances. George Marshall was incredibly unlucky to see a superb volley smash off a Bookham player when it looked to all of us like it was about to fly into the top corner and give us all 3 points.

M.O.T.M:
Dawid & Sammy Stetner, Josh O'Neil, Ethan Austin, Elliott Taylor, George Marshall, and Jaysen Patel all played superbly and any one of them could've taken it. However in the end it went to Jack Harrington who led by example and was superb for the entire match.