Horsley 1 - ARFC 0

The u16s were hosted by Horsley at the weekend and were looking to continue our good start after winning 3 of our 4 opening games. Playing on Horsleys main pitch and with a strong squad to choose from, we stuck with the usual 4-2-3-1 and expected the lads to start strong and challenge from the off.

Horsley were the better team in the opening 15-20 minutes but despite having most of the ball there wasn’t much work for Mikey Verga to do in the Abbey goal. Although Horsley managed to get a few shots away, they were mostly from distance and weren’t a great concern. We soon settled into our rhythm and although we looked good going forward, there were wide gaps in the center of the field which needed to be closed down. With this in mind we changed to a 4-3-3 to add some stability through the middle.

On 33 minutes the tweak in formation looked like it had paid off, when Jamie Smith nudged the ball over the line after some outstanding work from Dawid Stetner. However, the flag went up for offside and despite some mooted protests the goal was chalked off. 7 minutes later and with practically the last kick of the 1st half, Horsley hit Abbey on the break and went in 1-0 up at halftime.

The second half was hard fought, with Abbey really dominating the final phases of the game. Some neat 1-2 passing saw us carve out a number of good chances with Ethan Austin, Ben Hall, Jamie Smith and Alfie Bennett all coming close. However, the goal just didn’t come and in the end Abbey went down fighting. A loss is never a good result, but the players should take a lot of credit and confidence from their performance - especially in the second half.

MOTM: Outstanding & energetic performances from Dylan Lawrance and Ethan Austin saw them take a joint award this week. Ethan has been consistently superb this season and Dylan is well on his way to getting back to his best; driving at players and covering every inch of ground. Both lads really set the tone in this match and showed the standards we expect.

Ben Ayres should also take massive pride in his performance - playing 60 minutes in the heart of the back 4 and looking calm and composed alongside Jack Harrington (captain), Luca and Nathan Cole.