Today we travelled to Supermarine to play the only team we have never yet managed to beat, Lydiard Youth, and after playing well last week and training well in midweek we were looking sharp and hungry and knew we were in with a good chance of getting something out of this game if we could play as well as we know we can.
It was important to start the game well and we did this by pressing the ball and ensuring we didn′t give Lydiard any time or space to play. Our first chance came a few minutes into the game, good defending from Martin and Tom saw the ball spring out to Josh who crossed for Max who saw his shot pushed wide for a corner. Scott whipped it in and Josh′s shot hit the post before being scrambled away only as far as Martin who fed Max, this time Max′s shot was cleared off the line and Lydiard were lucky not to concede the first goal. Bassett were now commanding the game and Reuben was starting to control the centre of midfield which in the past has always been where Lydiard have been strongest, but not today as they weren′t given the chance and with Mitchell, Martin and Tom looking strong and composed at the back we just kept piling bodies forward with attack after attack. Lydiard were now pinned back in their own half and on the odd occasion that they did manage to push forward they were limited to weak shots from distance. Max, Scott and Josh were doing a great job pressurising high up the field and recovering back behind the ball when possession was lost and we were desperately unlucky not to go into half time in front.
With Tom getting a knock we brought Alex on for the second half and straight away he was in the thick of things with some great attacking runs and good recovering tackles. At the start of the half it was again all Bassett and both Josh and Reuben had early chances saved and Scott and Josh both saw chances go just wide after steering the ball past the advancing keeper. Then with a few minutes left on the clock, up popped Scott to strike the ball sweetly into the back of the net, after been set up well by Max, to earn Bassett a well deserved victory.
A fantastic display today and one of the best performances I′ve seen from this team, we dominated the play and everything we have been coaching over the last three years all seemed to click into place. Mitchell was very assured in goal and made two or three vital saves. Martin and Tom in the first half and Scott in the second were always in control at the back. Reuben, Scott, Max and Alex dominated the midfield, going forward they were awesome and their recovery runs when possession was lost were fantastic and Josh′s hold up and link up play was excellent despite being very tightly marked by one of the best defenders in this league. Not surprisingly there is no one player singled out this week as this was easily the best team performance in three years so again the MOTM award goes to the whole squad of nine.
Credit: Unknown
Last modified on Saturday 26th December 2020 at 14:39
