U10 Hawks v Timperley Villa Rapid

Hawks have now gone a year without being beaten at Hardy Farm after a comfortable morning.  We withdrew a player and played with six men for much of the game but still dominated.

LDSA was in unstoppable form all game and bagged a hat trick. BC added two but ignored instructions to play at the back by striding forward late in the game to score a fine goal. Disciplinary action will flow. 

RF crashed home a goal and NB added two as Rapid couldn’t keep up with the Hawks.  There were numerous other close efforts as LB, NB and JT dozed in the sunshine in goal. 

AB began well on his return with some accurate passing and we showed brilliant anticipation on several occasions to snuff out Rapid whenever they threatened.

Urmston Meadowside U10 Panthers v C&WD Harriers 1-5

The Harriers had a good shape and pressed well against a well organised opposition. The highlight came from captain Digby who scored  two net bursting thunderbolts from outside the area. Tyler got a brace but should in truth have passed on the second one which he shot in from the touch line to get a lucky deflection off the keeper. Vaughn also got on the scoresheet to reward him for an industrious performance. Man of the match to Digby today but mention also to Olly who did a lot of work to break up play and release the ball upfield and new signing Kayne who made some important left footed interventions.

U11 Owls away to FC Sporting Sale Jaguars

Lost 8 – 2

Fantastic performance by all players against a good and well organised Jaguars team. Sublime free kick goal by SS and a breakaway goal for SF. PoM: HM, that’s two in two for him having missed the previous game. Confident and assured defending and great distribution.

U11 Unicorn Eagles vs WD&C Kestrels

L: 5-3

Goals Jude(2), Elliot

Kestrels 3rd match of the season was a close encounter with a Unicorn Eagles team who lined up with a wonderful array of hairstyles. The top-knot, the bouffant/perm and the classic SB&S (short back and sides) sported by one of their defenders who happened to be about six foot two.

Our increasingly familiar 3-4-1 (“and one for all!”) formation started us off on the front foot. An early free kick from Jude saw Elliot spring the offside trap and clip his finish just over the bar. The goal soon came though with a tidy side-foot finish from Jude. We conceded a soft equaliser from our own goal kick whilst some of the team were occupied tying their laces. Benjamin was causing SB&S all kinds of bother down the left but was halted by a clattering challenge, albeit (apparently?) a fair one – Elliot wasn’t convinced and picked the ball up for the free kick only to be penalised for hand-ball.

Kestrels retook the lead with a deflected shot from Jude. The lead was extended before halftime – a lovely through ball and, not wanting to be scythed down, Elliot showed SB&S a clean pair of heels before slotting home.  SB&S’s woe was complete when he saw a patched up Benjamin chomping at the bit to get back amongst the action.

HT 1-3 !

The second half didn’t go quite as well as the first. A few verbals were exchanged between teams – ours being slightly more “overt” than theirs – which had coaches reaching for the Respect code. They scored 4 unanswered goals which didn’t do justice to Jonny’s bravery, James, Nico, Fred, Jacob and Archie repelling their attacks, William’s forward probing, Joe’s tenacity and constant encouragement or Lucas’s mazy runs.

FT 5-3 �

Huge positive to take out of today was the way the boys played in the first half. Defended well and really got at the opposition. Next challenge is to string that together for a longer period.

Coach’s POTM: Fred: Did exactly what was asked of him, he held his position, covered the gaps when needed, defended well and did all he could to create opportunities.

U13s v Hale United U13 Sao Paolo

WON 5-4 

Goals: Ted, Jacob W (2), William, own goal

West U13s won a pulsating nine-goal thriller to finally break the hoodoo of last season’s bogey team Hale United. 

William proved the match winner with a fantastic last-minute winner after West had thrown away a 4-1 lead given to them by goals from Ted, Jacob (2) and a bizarre own goal by the Hale goalkeeper. 

It was a real high-quality battle between two strong teams on a gloriously sunny afternoon at a lush Hardy Farm.

The talk before the match among the visitors was about comparing the X5 and X7 models of the BMW they had just bought (no joke!) and the fact they had beaten West in several high scoring encounters last season – “so this should be easy”. 

But they were soon silenced as Ted fired West into an early lead. The ball broke to him in the box and he slipped the challenge of one defender before lashing the ball into the net. 

It was end-to-end stuff from then on. Hale were quickly back on terms as a defensive mix up led to a simple tap-in to make it 1-1.

The two teams were obviously set on repeating the average of around 7 goals a games from last season – chances came thick and fast.

West retook the lead as some pinball in the box saw Kofi find Jacob W and he fired low and hard through the crowd into the bottom corner. 

Jacob W then did his job at the other end of the pitch with a fantastic last-ditch challenge to deny the Hale striker as he broke clear. The West defence was called upon time and again with Cameron joining Jacob with some great tackling. 

Zack, Isaac and Kenta were working hard in midfield but Hale began to get the upper hand. William and George were lonely figures up front as West struggled to clear their lines. Hale missed several good chances and Alfie produced some good saves as West held on desperately to their one-goal advantage. 

But then suddenly West went 3-1 ahead – and in bizarre circumstances. Isaac unleashed a piledriver from outside the box that cannoned off the bar straight up into the air. But as everyone turned away the ball came straight back down and the unfortunate Hale goalkeeper only managed to push the ball into his own goal as he tried to catch it.

It was completely against the run of play – but we’ll take that!

Alfie then made another good save to get West to half time with the 3-1 lead.

The second half started with more Hale pressure and chances, but West gradually rediscovered their passing football and deservedly increased their lead as a long range free-kick from Jacob W took a slight deflection to beat the goalkeeper.

It now looked comfortable and the Hale fans were probably imagining their luxurious drive home, while West fans were enjoying their afternoon in the sun.

But football is anything but predictable.

Hale’s skilful and strong frontman out-muscled Jacob W in a chase for a long ball and fired past Alfie to make it 4-2.

Nothing to worry about yet – and William then had a great chance to restore the three-goal lead. Kofi and George battled brilliantly to gain position and Kofi’s cross found William and Ted completely unmarked in the middle. William controlled the ball but then slipped slightly and scuffed his shot wide.

And that miss soon had added significance as Hale scored two in a matter of minutes to bring the game back to 4-4 – first they scored in a goalmouth scramble, then a cross from the left took a deceptive bounce and looped over Alfie.

Hale nearly completed an incredible turnaround, but Alfie produced a fantastic point-blank save to keep West level.

If goalkeepers can win matches, that save from Alfie proved decisive and the home crowd was sent into raptures seconds later as West stormed straight up the pitch and Isaac’s brilliant through ball found William. With his earlier miss probably still on his mind he showed brilliant composure to race forward and fire the ball home from the edge of the box.

There was no time for Hale to come back. West had finally turned the tables on them, sending them back to their luxury homes knowing West won’t be that easy to beat from now on!

Sale United v Under 14 Falcons 10-2

Scorers Iwan and Rory.

Pom Rory.

U15 Magpies

The U15 Magpies flew to Wythenshawe for a meet up with the Panthers formerly known as Sale United. Missing some significant plumage, the Magpies were a little up against it with only 12 fit players and a sunny sky intent on making it a tough game.

We matched the panthers in a cagey first half that yielded few chances.  0-0@HT.

The superior passing game of the Panthers took its toll as they stroked their way round and through our frenetic midfield and defence. 1-0. If last week was Wham, this week was Bam as 2 more goals were carefully crafted past our wilting workers. At 3-0 we lost Tyler to what looked like a nasty broken arm following a tackle/fall to the ground (*Required surgical pinning and cutting out of his shirt!). 

We saw out the last 12 mins or so bravely (including a keeper with a finger that pointed west like Didsbury), but continued to take a painful lesson in swift pass, move and support play. Let’s hope we both learn and heal quickly.

Perhaps the solo touchline career needs that sprinkle of stardom and ingenuity back..

Final score 5-0.

Potm Jack Waterfield 

Lions U15s lost 2-3 to St John’s. Goals from LE and BT. POM ZH

U15 Badgers v Wilmslow Town Cougars

Won 9-4 (HT 2-3)

Scorers: Kayden (3), Teddy (3), Sam, Aaron, Austin

PoM: Danny – excellent leadership skills and composure. 

After half time team talk where “tea cups were thrown!” Lads had an awesome second half.

U16’s (Phoenix) v Timperley Villa Lightning 

Div 2

5 – 3 Win

Down to 12 men for the start of the game, with our normal GK once again missing (through Cricket commitments) this was always going to be a challenge.

In truth, it was a poor game of football in the 1st half. We were well short of the standards we set ourselves last season and paid the price, going in 2-0 down at the break (Sal, our stand in GK only had 2 things to do in the 1st half…pick the ball out of the net twice ! We did have a couple of decent chances towards the end of the half but, overall, it was a fairly dire performance from ourselves & the scoreline reflected this)

With our playing resources stretched we were in desperate need for Sal upfront – his unique style of play was required to unlock a packed defence & provide us with an overload in the middle of the park.

Speaking to the lads at half time looking for a replacement goalie was met with a “tumbleweed” moment – Absolute silence.

Unfortunately for Charlie, and by virtue of being my son, he was duly pressganged into GK duties.

Timperley broke away on a counter attack at the start of the 2nd half & poor old Charlie was faced with a one on one with their striker..he came off his line & produced a brilliant save to keep us in the game �

We’d had a reprieve & this seemed to spur us into action !

Sal began to find the space just in front of their packed defence, they broke their formation to try & deal with him, space was created for the rest of our forward line & the goals started to flow ��

Helal x2, Harry x 1 & Sal x 1 took us 4-2 up

A late penalty for them made it 4-3 and made for a nervy finish before Zak slotted our 5th.

POM Sal (for the match winning difference he made in the 2nd half)

Fingers crossed we have our inspirational Goalie (Fred) back for our next game along with a full squad of players to select from.