Sunday 17th November, Finchampstead Hurricanes went up against Abbey Youth…..
As the game got started, with the same set of lads as last
week, the Hurricanes were looking confident on the ball. But that didn’t
last very long. Although Abbey weren’t consistently pressing too hard,
it was enough to put the lads under pressure, win the ball back quickly
and force the mistakes. They couldn’t get their passing game going or
apply their own pressure to stop Abbey playing forward. And it wasn’t
long before Abbey capitalised with 3 goals in the first 30 minutes.
But
in spite of the scoreline, there were some quality moments to the Finch
game, especially with shorter quick passing play to work the ball
around Abbey. A penetrating cross field pass from Lewis C put Ben M on
goal, there were a couple of longer range shots from the edge of the
penalty box and Harrington couldn’t get over the top of a couple of well
placed corners at the back post. Dan pulled off a number of good saves
too including tipping the ball onto the cross bar from a free kick and
facing down a 1-on-1. Abbey got the 4th goal as the first half came to a
close. A half to put behind us and learn from!!
At
half time the lads knew they were struggling as a collective, giving
Abbey too much time, not getting to the ball quickly enough, lack of
composure on the ball, holding on to the ball and not moving to create
space. Basically everything we have seen them do well over the last few
weeks.
The Hurricanes went out in the 2nd half with a
renewed focus and determination. And they put the pressure onto Abbey
from the kick off. And they created chances…Jack was put through on goal
but couldn’t wrap his foot around the shot enough, Cam forced a double
save in a goal mouth scramble after a corner, Adam and Jacob almost got
the tap in but the keeper made the block and Ben M’s back post shot was
saved by the keeper. Finch also won a couple of free kicks around the
penalty box, Lewis C forcing the save from his on-target effort.
With
15 minutes to go, there was an off-the-ball incident between 2 players
in the Abbey penalty box and both teams went down to 10 men to finish
the game off. Although a lot quieter at the Finch goal, Dan had to make a
few more saves. But Abbey managed to squeeze the ball through the back
line to beat the off-side trap and get the final goal of the game. 5-0
final score.
