Sunday 29th March 2009 - Wroughton Juniors 'A' (A)

We made our way to Wroughton on a fine sunny spring morning on the first official day of British Summertime, with everyone remembering to put their clock forward which was our initial worry.

On a very small and narrow pitch and against a team who were unlucky to lose in the semi-finals of the Cup, it was imperative that we tried to start the game brightly. This wasn't to be the case though as our opponents were first to the ball and we looked very sluggish in comparison to them.

We as parents and coaches have to be aware though that sometimes we can only play as well as the opposition allows us to and all credit must go to Wroughton who played very well in the early exchanges of the match.

Both teams had half chances come and go before the home team took the lead when we failed to stop a cross coming in and Conor could only palm the ball out to the oncoming forward, who headed the ball into the empty net from close range

When we tried to play football we looked quite capable of opening up the Wroughton defence, but too often the ball was hit long when a short pass would have been the better option.

The closest we came to scoring in the first half was when a shot from Tyler took a deflection and resulted in a good save from the goalkeeper.

As half time approached we then suffered a further blow as Euan had to leave the field with a hamstring injury.

Half Time 0-1.

The second half saw a much more determined Bassett take the field and the spirit seemed to be back in the team, as we started to tackle and fought for the ball.

We constantly tried to change the formation and find a way back into the game and we had a couple of chances to level the score which went begging.

Our defence of Jordan and especially Alanah were now very dominant as they drove the team forward, whilst being very solid when Wroughton attacked.

The midfield of Beckham, Lewis, Harrison and Callum were now starting to get the ball wide and get crosses in to Tyler as we went all out for the equalising goal.

With the match going into the last 10 minutes we decided to go for all out attack and brought Euan back on for one last effort and pushed Jordan up front with Tyler. This move nearly brought instant success as Euan, Tyler and Jordan all brought saves out of the goalkeeper.

As the game entered the final 5 minutes we had a huge slice of good fortune as a shot from Jordan was helped over the line by the goalkeeper, to bring us level in the match.

Both teams then went for the winner and we nearly snatched all 3 points when a good run and pass from Callum found Tyler in space in the penalty area, only for the keeper to atone for his earlier error by smothering the ball.

Match Analysis: A hard fought draw was the most we deserved from the game as we struggled to break down our hard working and skilful opponents. The second half performance was a lot better than in the first half. We could have snatched victory at the very end of the match and that was very pleasing, but it would have been unfair to our opponents.

Player of the Match: Alanah Edwards was the deserved winner, as she never gave up on any tackle and used the ball very well during the whole time she was on the pitch.

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