Boys' U14B v Arnold Lodge, W5-1

Date:
Friday 2nd October 2009

Venue:
Hall Close 3

Team:
Lee (Clarke 25); Prutton, Shires, Goodacre, Cohen; Staley (Wilcock 25), Morris, Cotter, Buckley; Bell, Clarke

Result:
Repton 5-1 Arnold Lodge

Match Report:
Under glowering skies, with the pitch picked out with leaves that confirmed the afternoon as the bearing the first chill of the autumn, Repton faced an Arnold Lodge team with only seven players; in a gesture that set the tone for the game, Troy Ginsberg, Adam Cartlidge, Marco Wilcock and Mikey Li gamely agreed to play for Arnold, adding bulk, composure and nous to what was a very young side. Inevitably, the game then risked adopting the air of an exhibition match, but, while it was played in a spirit that was a delight to experience, with both teams competing without being niggly, and the Reptonians blending seamlessly with their new team-mates, and clearly being committed to the cause. Several, indeed, declined the offer to rejoin their previous fold, and Owen Staley actively sought to lend his feet to the other cause.

True, both sides’ formations lacked the discipline and shape one might have hoped from them, with Repton in particular playing with all the fluidity of the 1953 Magyars, without perhaps ensuring that the space vacated was filled by another player – and Ginsberg reciprocating in a role redolent of Nandor Hidegkuti – but, make no mistake, this was a match played by boys wanting to win, and to do so in style. On three minutes Will Buckley, presaging what was to be a remarkably composed performance, replete with Cruyff turns and pin-point crosses from the wing, tapped in after Charlie Bell had capitalised on an excellent run with the ball to put the ball across the face of the goal from the bye-line. Ten minutes later, Bell controlled a through ball on the edge of the area, jinked past his marker, and found himself with enough time in the area to have a cup of tea and read most of the Philosophy section of the Times Literary Supplement. In the end, and with typical good judgement, he chose instead to send the ’keeper the wrong way and slotted home comfortably. Marco Wilcock was next to score, shortly after the break, following a practically unopposeable move in the Arnold box: Buckley had found himself on the bye-line with the ball, intelligently knocked the ball back to Byung Moo Lee, playing out of goal for the second half. Lee instinctively sent the ball pinging to the far post, where Wilcock was on hand to tap in. He added a second course to his feast within 5 minutes, but not before Owen Staley had sent an unstoppable shot past Jack Clarke, deputising for Lee in the Repton Goal, beating him at the near post. Cotter finished off proceedings just before the death with a scuffed shot that deceived the ’keeper, but was thoroughly deserved for yet another pivotal and solid performance tidying up the centre of midfield.

All the boys are to be commended on a thoroughly enjoyable and attractive game of football.