Boys' U14A v Woodlands

Date: Tuesday 1st December

Venue: Hall Close 1

Team: Astin; Cohen, Goodacre, Sanders, Cohen; Staley, Ramsay, Sharpe, Clarke; Ballantyne-Rowland, Taft.

Subs: Lee, Ginsberg, Bell

Result: L3-2

Match Report:

Without question, this was a match the U14s ought to have won: they stormed into a 2-0 lead within eight minutes, and dominated the second period, camped in Woodlands’ half, but some careless errors and inability to find the killer final ball were to cost them.

Repton started freshly, and their opponents seemed to be caught unawares; a free kick on the edge of the area was allow to float into the Woodlands goal unopposed, and Repton were soon 2-0 up after some quick and intelligent spreading of the ball between the wings had the opposition defence chasing their tails. At this point it seemed as though it would be one-way traffic for much of the game, but where Repton had dominated the midfield, being first to every ball, delivering it quickly to the wide men and forcing Woodlands onto the back foot at all times, they now seemed to surrender control of the centre of the pitch, with the midfield playing too high and leaving the defence exposed. The first Woodlands goal, indeed, came direct from midfield, where the player suddenly found himself in more space than he himself, presumably, could believe he had, and beat Robbie Astin from distance with a ball that found its way into the corner of the net, leaving no room for error either way.

Repton failed to heed the lesson, and continue to cede ground in midfield, often falling victim to overlaps on the Woodlands left wing. Casual errors started to creep into what had been a slick and urgent performance, and supportive, steadying communication gave way to recriminations and negativity. Shortly before half-time Jack Sanders put the ball into his own net when trying to clear a cross, but it was little more than Woodlands had deserved for keeping their composure after such a disheartening start.

Repton started the second half as they had the first, pressing the Woodlands back line deeper and deeper, with Owen Staley, Ed Ballantyne-Rowland and Tom Sharpe feeding Jason Taft and Jack Clarke up front. This midfield triumvirate dominated proceedings, and a goal looked sure to come, but Repton could not convert all this swift, incisive movement, not least owing to a tendency to get caught off-side when they had plenty of pace and skill not to need to risk this.

The final twist of the knife came when, in one of only a handful of forays into the Repton half, Woodlands found a player unmarked on the edge of the area as the ball was scrambled out from a throw-in and put it away to gain an unlikely victory.