YEL Sunday U10 Division 2
Septermber 14th, 2008
West Bridgford Saracens 2 v 0 Sherwood FC
A very close game today, very competitive and very sporting. West Bridgford have retained the same squad since they started at U8 and their superior team play showed. They understood and respected each other better than we did and deserved to run out winners. They took the lead early with a long range effort that was placed nicely under the bar and over Ivan and they played for each other after that even when under pressure. At one-nil down the second half should have seen us redouble our efforts and to be fair some of the lads did - Harry W, William and Tom in particular, and they weren't alone. We had some good chances but couldn't quite convert. Two things did for us. First, Michael was there and he's never seen us win! Secondly and more seriously it was sad that a few of our boys decided that they either wouldn't play where asked or preferred to blame their teammates. Some need to learn that losing really isn't the end of the world and I felt sorry for the boys who ptiched in today only to be let down by a few others. West Bridgford added a deserved second 5 minutes from the end and the game was up. They were unlucky not to add a third before the final whistle, maybe they did but the ref couldn't be certain that the ball had crossed the line and gave us the benefit of the doubt. On the plus side there were some great performances today and although most boys tried their best I thought William and Tom in particular stood out. They were excellent because they never gave up. This week as last week however there was only one Man of the Match for me, another great Captains performance from Harry W. Well done Harry, you have always been a good player and now you've added the presence of a real Captain.
Finally, it was lovely to play in front of two encouraging and sporting sets of parents. A big thank you to both sets of parents and managers for showing how things should be done. No screaming and shouting and an ability to applaud good play from both sides. This was one of the highlights of the day.
