Click on back button to
return...
![]()
|
Uxbridge Colts |
1 | |
|
Carshalton U16s |
3 | Jack Goodman (pen.), Steve Greenslade, Tyson Phillips |
WSYL - 21st September 2003
The game started at a high tempo on a very uneven pitch with strong tackles being made by both teams. From the start, the Uxbridge strategy was to hit the ball long from the back, bypassing the midfield for the pace and height of their forwards, keeping the Carshalton back four on their toes. But they were more than happy to meet the aerial challenge from Uxbridge with Luke Adams challenging the first ball and Dave Booth ably sweeping up behind him.
As the game wore on, the Carshalton team began to control the game and passed the ball around the pitch effectively up to the front two, who tirelessly kept making runs pulling the Uxbridge central defenders out of position, allowing space for Ollie Adams and Mark Pucek to explore. Dan Coombes had an excellent long range shot fly just over the bar whilst Aaron Williams continued to drive the team forward.
With Carshalton pressing for a goal, Uxbridge once again used the long ball from the back to their wide player on the right who managed to avoid a challenge from Luke, with the ball breaking to the centre forward, who managed to take the ball around Dave Booth and Mark Cowhig before putting the ball in the net for Uxbridge.
The Carshalton team continued to apply pressure on the Uxbridge defence and Jack Mesure was tackled heavily in the box and had to be substituted. Rob Turner came on and went wide left with Ollie Adams taking Jack's central position. The substitution galvanised the Carshalton lads to create even more chances with both Tyson Phillips and Mark Pucek being thwarted by the uneven bounce of the ball.
With Mark Adams on the line calling out for the boys to equalise before the halftime whistle, his wish was about to come true with Ollie Adams being brought down in the box and the referee pointing to the spot. Despite long remonstrations to the ref by some of the Uxbridge team, up stepped Jack Goodman who coolly placed the ball to the left of the keeper to make the score one apiece.
For the last five minutes of the half the game was punctuated with niggling fouls, which resulted in the referee, talking to both teams at half time.
Uxbridge began the second half attacking the Carshalton goal with Mark Cowhig making two excellent saves and Jack Goodman calmly heading the ball away for a corner with Mark beaten. An injury to Dave Booth meant that Darren Wells moved to the centre of the defence and Tom Lawler came in at right back, imposing his own uncompromising style and passion on the game. The nervous moments for the Carshalton travelling supporters minus the Tupper family who had to attend a christening soon began to fade.
Rob Turner began to cause problems to the Uxbridge defence and was unfairly upended on a number of occasions when attacking the fullback. Further tactical changes were made to the team which saw the introduction of Stevie Greenslade who made a number of excellent forward runs from a defensive position which eventually resulted him scoring with a difficult header from a well flighted pass from Luke Adams.
With Darren Wells marshalling the team and Aaron Williams consistently winning the ball, it was only a matter of time before Carshalton scored again. A corner from Ollie Adams was met by Tyson Phillips, causing a scramble on the goal line which resulted in the final score of 3-1 to Carshalton.
Whilst the game may not have been pretty to watch, all the boys followed the half time instructions of the management team and continued to play their passing game and showed discipline and character against a strong Uxbridge Colts team leading to a deserved and hard fought victory.
Ray Coombes
|
|