Collated by Nick Syrett

A less boggy week saw the return of a healthy fixture list  for the West ranks, albeit with some games moved to chorlton park to protect the hallowed bogs of Hardly farm.  The Mighty Dukz Bog snorkelling outfit were absent this week due to an International break, but a few of their big bubbling hopes did travel with the national squad for the experience. We look forward to their tales of Icelandic bog plunging next week. 

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North Trafford Athletic United   WD&C U9 Hawks

In the goals: Ben, Rudy,, Noah, Ollie, Sam

The clash of the teams with very long names saw Sam open the scoring after Noah’s long throw caused havoc in the box. Bertie C hit the post but Ben added a second followed by a terrible knee slide celebration that saw him sink slowly into the mud. 

United pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 at the break but Hawks pulled clear in the second period with a goal bonanza as United couldn’t match their flowing football. Lucien arrived just in time to set up a couple of goals.  The best was started by Luca B who pounced on a loose ball and set up an attack with a quick throw. Lucien powered down the flank and Rudy provided a clinical finish. Cue more unsuccessful knee slide celebrations. 

A big fluffy brown dog caused problems in midfield for a while, causing a short paws in the action.  It even evaded expert dog handler and Mars Bar Man of the Match Noah but didn’t put him off smashing home a penalty after he was fouled.  He then whipped over a corner that OB One Breedobe forced in. 

Luca G and Joe made sure there was no way back for United with well timed tackles and interceptions and Rudy added his second near the end.

WD&C U9 Jaguars were no match the visiting Owls. 

Oliver x2, Oscarx1.POTM Suhaib for excellent and brave defence.

WD&C U10 Eagles

League (h)

Ashton panthers

A healthy win for the Eagles. 

Scorers: Sacha, mikki, Fionn (3), Bailey (2), Alex, Luca

PoM: Nico for 6 assists, 3 of which were excellent corners. Though all lads could have had this today

The U10 Kestrels put on epic show of spirit and determination but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough this week to overcome an amazing opposition. POM – 11J

WD&C U12  2-3 Hale United Sao Paulo

A windswept Chorlton Park played host to what’s fast becoming a bit of a grudge match against our friends from the land of big cars and houses. West were seeking their first win against Hale after two previous clashes this season.

West started brightly and were camped in the Hale half for the first 5 mins, some great interchange play down the flanks saw George flash a shot just wide of the post in the first chance of the game.

Hale’s eight foot tall number three flashed a header just wide from a well delivered corner as the match evened out (I would say he out jumped the defence but he didn’t need to jump) but it was West who struck first seconds later. A super run and shot by George led to some ping pong in the box before Kofi slotted home to make it 1-0 and sending the newly monikered ‘West MAGS’ (Mothers and Grandmas) wild.

Sadly the lead didn’t last long, Hale hit back with a close range finish just a minute later to level things up at 1-1.

A succession of niggly late Hale challenges, shirt tugs and hands in faces didn’t put West off their game. More well worked play through midfield saw a shot hit the inside of the post, seemingly defying the laws of physics to pop back out across the face of goal to safety to the despair of the record crowd.

Hale always looked dangerous on the break though and made it 2-1 with another close range finish after West failed to clear an initial shot.

But West kept battling and Hale’s keeper was forced into the save of the game to tip a dipping shot over the bar just before halftime. It was end to end now and the ‘pesky post of despair’ denied George again as the half time whistle went.

HT: 1-2.

The second half got off to an even start with West’s patient build ups countered by Hale’s quick breaks. West got a bit more physical, but fair, and the visitors didn’t like getting a taste of their own medicine with some rather unsporting backchat and complaints to the ref becoming a regular feature of the game.

The woodwork continued to play a key role, this time coming to West’s rescue following a corner, but a great looping header minutes later saw Hale extend their lead to 1-3.

The scoreline really didn’t reflect the balance of play and to their credit West weren’t put off. The midfield took control with some surging runs from Isaac and Kofi and Ted pulled one back after more great build up play to get the score to 2-3.

West kept pushing forward and Hale were on the backfoot but the pesky post was about to complete its hat-trick of denying West, Ted so unlucky not to score after George held off two Hale players and some more late lunges to get the ball in the box.

As the wind levels increased West kept the momentum, denied by some good defending before Alfie had to save smartly from a late counter to keep West in it.

The equalising goal just wouldn’t come as the final whistle was blown but West could be proud of a batting, sporting performance; only denied a deserved share of the spoils, or even victory, by the woodwork. Let’s hope for a change of fortune next week in the return match.

Full time: 2-3

Crowd – 29. 

Away fans – 9 (5 in matching, expensive puffer jackets) 

Dogs – 5 (or 4.5 really as Angel Roskell made her full sideline debut and isn’t quite big enough to be classed as a full dog quite yet)

Man of the match: The whole team for a great performance. Well played boys!

Under 13’s falcons lost 3-4 at Chorlton Park to Unicorn.

Scorers: og from Iwans corner, 2 from Sam.plus an incredible volley from Rory off a curling free kick disallowed for offside. Cruelly conceded a 4th after getting back to 3-3. The team continued to improve throughout the game on a difficult surface always trying to play thoughtful through balls .Couple of nasty injuries..including a deliberate stamp on a hand and one on Morgan clattered right at the end who was unable to walk unaided on the final whistle. Excellent play from both sides and tough to lose out in the end and shame we don’t get the chance to play them again this year.

U14 Badgers

Urmston Meadowside Roma (a)

Won 4-2

Scorers: Danny, Kayden, Teddy (2)

PoM: Hussam 

Well done Badgers 

Fantastic performance against such an aggressive, antagonising and woeful attitude team.

Well done Austin / Teddy for keeping your heads – proud of you and the rest of the team for supporting each other. Worst game been involved in – our lads did club proud and played football the right way .

WD&C U14 Magpies v Urmston Meds Barca

A bitterly cold wind blew through a slightly sticky Hardy Farm on Sunday morning,  but was it the wind of change? 

With 5 players unavailable for the game against Urmston meds Barca, the Magpies were a little plucked of feathers. Step forward whacky Aki and his code cracking abilities.  ID’s and photos were scrabbled together and two new recruits were fast tracked into the team. A ball playing centre back and a solid, skillful 6 foot machine in the midfield will do nicely, thanks.

The Magpies struggled to find any rhythm playing into a strong wind, but their attempts at neat play were finally rewarded with a nicely clipped left foot finish at the far post for Ioanniesta from a smart square pass from the Hitman. 

Our number 1 flying Fin repelled many wind assisted long range efforts,  whipped in corners and at least three one on ones to keep us in the game but couldn’t keep out a speculative chip that floated in on the arctic breeze. 

We went in 1-1 @HT pretty happy to be in it with the strong wind advantage to come. 

Josh M smacked in a worldy from distance to take the deserved plaudits from the meagre crowd. 

We started to move through the gears and a better passing game and tempo saw us find some breathing space as the Hitman poked home an alleged goal bound effort from Ralf. 3-1.

Our new midfield machine got the goal his dominant performance deserved with a powerful solo run from the halfway line. He held off a few interested suitors before unleashing a fierce drive across the keeper and into the far corner. 

4-1. We all relaxed a little too much as they crept back to 4-2 then 4-3 as we re jigged the ranks a bit too much.  

Fortunately for us, Josh M mustered a neat chip over the Urmston defence for an on rushing Hitman to deliver the knockout punch. Phew. 

Final score WD&C Magpies 5-3 Urmston Meds Barca

Strong debuts from Oli and Adeyo, but solid performances all over the pitch, especially from our number one keeper who kept us in the game with a long list of acrobatic stops. 

Goals:

Ioannis, Josh M, Adeyo and Jack H x 2

POTM Fin

Urmston meadow side U15s Broncos vs West U15s.

Won:3-5

Goals: Helal (2) / Sal / Zak / Hasnain

POM: Mani..Dynamic midfield play all game.

Bit of a strange game this one:-

We beat the Broncos at HF handsomely back in early Oct & probably that match is the best we’ve played to date.

Think the lads had this on their mind & thought it was going to be a walk in the park-IT WASNT. The Broncos came out bucking & winning most tackles strong from the off. True to form & unfortunately what seems to be our way it took us 15/20 mins to get going..thankfully we didn’t concede & the match got better with more chances each end..Then out of nowhere we netted 5 in 5 minutes! Going in at half time 5 up..

Good second half & we created plenty more chances, just couldn’t find the net, their keeper pulling of a couple of great saves with us also hitting the post & bar.

Very slack defending/ positional play gifted the broncos a goal. Two more defensive howlers gifted them 2 more…thankfully the back line got themselves together again & we tightened up defensively to see the match out for a win.

Well Done Lads.

WD&C U16 girls won today away at Radcliffe. Great match with some challenging periods. We led 3-0 at half time but Radcliffe fought back strongly in the second half. However the final score was 5-6 win to West Didsbury & Chorlton u16 Girls, who are now back at the top of the girls league Division 2 again. However other teams are battling hard and offer big challenges to us. Nonetheless, massive respect to Leanne and our girls for another important win today.