Sunday 28th September 2008 - Shrivenham & Watchfield (A)

The U9s returned to Shrivenham for their next league match, the venue of a convincing 11-0 pre-season friendly win for the guys. Any thoughts that this was going to be a similar result should have been banished from everybody's mind within the first few minutes as Shrivenham came out fighting. Two early chances at both ends saw the Shrivenham keeper make a fine save at the feet of Tyler and Bassett get a lucky escape when a long clearance bounced through the Bassett defence and the forward got to the ball before Connor, just to see the ball go wide.

On six minutes, a Shrivenham corner was dealt with by the Bassett defence and Euan launched the ball up front. Luckily the ball hit Tyler in full stride and bounced kindly for him to take another touch and then get a shot away. The Shrivenham keeper got a hand to the ball but the force of the shot took the ball inside the post for the first goal of the game.

Shortly after that a free kick was awarded to Bassett. Euan sent the ball into the Shrivenham area, where it ricocheted off Tyler and some how the Shirvenham keeper made a save and the ball went out for a corner. A tremendous corner ensued, which looped over the keeper, but was cleared off the line by a great clearance from the Shrivenham defender.

Bassett didn't have it all their own way and an almighty scramble in the Bassett area saw the final Shrivenham shot sail over Connor's bar. On the quarter hour, Bassett surged forward and Ryosuke had a fine shot saved by the Shrivenham keeper, Jordan tried to put the rebound back in the box but the ball was blocked by a Shrivenham arm. Euan took the resulting free kick, no one got chance to move as the ball flew into the top of the Shrivenham goal from 15 yards.

Half time approached and Bassett came close again with a long range effort from Callum that looped over the bar. Before the referee could blow his whistle, Shrivenham produced the best move of the game. Two quick short passes and some quick running, and Shrivenham had moved the ball from the edge of their own box, right down to the Bassett box, unfortunately for the blue and whites the resulting shot just went over the bar.

Half Time: 0-2.

The second half started with some intense Shrivenham pressure. Three consecutive corners were conceded by Bassett, with Jordan making the timely defensive clearance on each occasion. Another escape came for Bassett on 25 minutes as a Shrivenham attack down the left saw the ball fizz across the Bassett box, but again no forward could get on the end of the ball.

Bassett slowly got into the game again and a clearance from the Shrivenham keeper was blocked by Ryosuke, his first time ball was met on the run by Lewis, who calmly slotted the ball past the Shrivenham keeper with a well placed first time shot.

Bassett now started to play some of their flowing football for the first time in the game. The strong defencive foundations of Alanah and Jordan allowed some quality passing rather than the long ball, the players looked more comfortable on the ball and the team took control of the game as a unit.

On 35 minutes, Tyler picked up the ball in midfield, passed onto Euan, who showed great strength and determination to get a good shot away which beat the keeper and slipped inside the post.

The next attack saw Bassett's fifth goal as Harrison ran down the right, put in a great low hard cross which was met at the back post by Tyler, who finished the move off with a neat shot.

With the final whistle approaching, Shrivenham got reward for their efforts as a long kick from their keeper, bounced through the Bassett defence, and was met by the Shrivenham forward who passed the ball into an empty net for a much deserved goal.

Match Analysis: A tougher match than the score reflects, a bit more composure from the Shrivenham attack and the game would have been much closer. Eventually Bassett started to play some good passing football, Ryosuke, Jordan and Lewis held the ball up well and brought other members of the team into play.

Player of the Match: This is getting very tough!!! The team are playing very well together and no one is letting anyone else down. The final decision went to Jordan Taylor who played extremely well in defence and used the ball wisely whenever he had time and space to do so.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:39