U16s 4 : 3 Bedont Sports

After beating Bedfont Sports on penalties in the cup, the U16s welcomed them to The Moor knowing they would be well up for this game. That was evident straight from kick-off as both teams went toe to toe in a lively and scrappy first half.

In a change to the usual 4-2-3-1, we went with 4-3-3 to really try and get hold of the midfield. Initially that looked to be a well-judged decision when Josh O’neil clipped a lovely ball over the top and sent Jamie Smith through to finish neatly with his weaker left foot… 1-0 to Abbey with less than 1 minute gone.

However, conceding the early goal didn’t phase Bedfont and they leveled the score on 9 minutes - poking the ball into the Abbey goal after the boys had stopped playing, expecting a free kick in the box for a high boot. Just 3 minutes later and Bedfont scored again to take the lead, this time taking advantage of some poor pressing and slipping the ball past Mikey Verga to make it 1-2.

At this point it was evident that the change to 4-3-3 wasn’t paying off, so we switched back to 4-2-3-1....George Marshall moved into CAM with Dylan Lawrance moving from CM over to RW. This change paid off and although the battle continued we looked far more balanced across the pitch.

On 17 minutes Ben Hall stepped up to take a free-kick around 20-25 yards from the Bedfont goal. Ben struck the ball well, getting it up and over the wall for his first goal of the season and hopefully his first of many. 2-2

From there on the game showed no signs of slowing down and only some last ditch defending from the Abbey back line kept the scores as they were. That was until 26 minutes when some nice footwork from Alfie Bennett saw him beat 2 Bedfont players on the edge of their box before powering it past their keeper for a really well taken goal. Abbey now had the lead and scored again just one minute later as Ben Hall turned provider with a well crafted assist - beating the Bedfont right-back before cutting the ball back to the George Marshall who finished confidently from the edge of the box, sweeping it into the bottom left corner. 4-2 to Abbey with only 27 minutes gone.

At this point we were looking for the boys to shut up shop and to see out the rest of the half. However a lucky cross-shot ended up sailing over Mikey Verga and into the Abbey goal to make it 4-3 . The remaining 10 minutes continued to be played at the same pace, but Ethan Austin and Dylan Lawrance really started to come into their own with some superb tackling, energetic tracking back and clever use of the ball.

At half time and with the score at 4-3 the boys were told to keep their heads, to commit to the press and to really try and settle on the ball. That message must've got across as they saw out the second half with a far more mature approach; controlling the majority of open play, winning the first & second balls and committing to strong (but fair) challenges . The work rate from all of the boys was unquestionable and it was good to see Alfie Bennett up his game and show exactly why he picked up last seasons ‘Players Player’ and ‘Managers Player’ awards.

Although well contested, the second half passed without any major incident, with minor injuries to Nathan Cole and Ben Ayres being the only real disappointment.

MOTM: Jack Harrington (Captain) for some great last ditch defending and for leading his team by example.

Dylan Lawrance, Ethan Austin, Ben Hall & George Marshall should also be delighted with their performances – with Dylan rivaling Jack for the MOTM award and only narrowly missing out.