Ashtead vs Abbey Rangers U16

The u16’s travelled the short distance to Ashtead for our third game of the season and were looking to build on our 3:1 win over Staines the week before.

It was clear early on that the the pitch was going to be a concern, but confidence was high and the boys were up for it. However, things looked ominous when a long ball over the top set one of the Ashtead strikers away and he finished neatly – poking it past Mikey Verga in the Abbey goal. One minute gone…. one Ashtead attack… one goal down… Not ideal.

Conceding so early had rattled the Abbey players and it took 10-15 minutes for us to find our feet and play the sort of football we expect. But as we found our rhythm we got a stronghold foothold in the game and the chances soon began to come...

The players hard work and persistence was rewarded when Dawid Stetner beat a defender down the left, before cutting inside and nudging the ball into the Ashtead goal on 33 minutes. A few more chances followed, but we couldn’t put them away and the players came in at half time with the score at 1-1.

The halftime team talk was an easy one; Be positive and play our game. If we played our game, we would get more goals and if we could get the ball wide and whip crosses in we were going to cause Ashtead real problems. The boys listened, took it on-board and the result soon followed…

Dylan Lawrance & George Marshall worked tirelessly on both wings, whilst Ethan Austin and Alfie Bennett really took charge of the midfield. This made the difference on 58 minutes as Alfie played a lovely clipped ball through to Jamie Smith who tucked it away with a tidy finish. 1-2 to Abbey and a well-deserved lead.

Not content with his assist, Alfie took his game up another level and on the 66th minute fired an unstoppable free kick into the top left corner from around 35 yards. The Ashtead keeper had no chance. 1-3 to Abbey.

With 14 minutes to go the lead felt comfortable but every Abbey player continued to work hard & push forward. The collective work rate and the individual performances remained high and some outstanding individual work from Dylan Lawrance saw him battle for the ball before firing a driven, first time cross towards George Marshall in the Ashtead penalty area. Under pressure from George and with a rocket of a cross coming at him quickly, the covering center back stuck out his arm and the ref awarded the penalty. Up stepped Dawid Stetner to convert it calmly and wheel away celebrating his 4th goal of the season.

MOTM: This was an incredibly difficult decision and it could have easily gone to a number of players. In the end, Dawid Stetner edged it for his hard work and 2 goals, but Josh O’Neil, Jack Harrington, Dylan Lawrance, George Marshall & Ethan Austin all came close to taking it.