Team:

• Liam Cooper
• Jack Morris
• Robbie O’Donnell
• Craig Dale
• Tom Marshall
• Max Pashley
• Ryan Shield
• Chris Cockbill
• Dylan Farrow
• Macaulay Kilpatrick
• Connor Bartle
• Will Gill
• Sam Jaffe

Match Report:

The first test of the day was for the car drivers; how to find an unlocked entrance to Vernon Park. Apparently Vernon Colts have taken control of the park and are in the process of building new facilities, for this reason many entrances are sealed off for health and safety reasons. I am sure this current short term disruption will be worth it when the new facilities are available. Whether we get to play there next season or not depended greatly on the outcome of this game. Vernon, after an excellent season, are within a whisker of claiming 2 nd place which will assure promotion; 3 points from us today would go along way to helping them achieve their objective.

The last time the two sides met signalled a turning point for Cotgrave Colts (herein after referred to as Colts). With the game finally balanced at 0-0 Liam had to leave the field of play at halftime due to a suspected (and later diagnosed) broken bone in his wrist. This meant a big re-shuffle which the Colts never fully got to terms with; the game eventually finished 1-4 to Vernon.

The Colts kicked-off the first half playing up the slight hill. Max informed me before the start that this was the first time since becoming captain that he had lost the toss. Were the signs looking ominous?

For the first 15 minutes the Colts were well on top of the game. The passing was excellent and a joy to watch as the players took the game to Vernon. The transition between defend and attack (and back again when needed) worked like clockwork; when we needed it space was created by the wide players (who attacked with menace down both the left (Connor) and the right (Ryan). When we needed to defend the space for Vernon was stifled by players getting back behind the ball and closing down (Max and Macaulay controlling everything in the middle of the pitch).

When Vernon did manage to break through, the defence (Tom, Craig, Robbie and Jack held firm) and provided a barrier almost as difficult to breakthrough as the perimeter that encloses Vernon Park.

Liam, who was forced to play the entire game in a short sleeved shirt due to the referees objections regarding his hooded sweat top (on safety grounds) as always was on hand to deal with any danger when it did come his way. Liam has a habit of making saves look easy; this is due to his positioning and confident handling. He certainly offered no rebound opportunities for the on rushing Vernon strikers.

At the other end, it was a rebound opportunity that allowed Dylan to open the scoring for the Colts. With 16 minutes on the clock a shot was parried by the Vernon keeper but Dylan was on hand to ram the ball over the line to make the score 0-1 – a goal scored with his left foot.

Dylan and Chris were causing problems up until this point for the Vernon defence with their pace and in particular Chris’ passing ability. He was demonstrating his ability to use both feet to good effect today.

The pattern of play remained the same with the Colts having more of the possession and creating more of the chances. On 25 minutes the lead was extended further. Craig (still playing at centre half at this stage) reading a Vernon attack perfectly, intercepted the ball and played a great through ball to Chris. Chris in turn, played a sublime pass through to his strike partner Dylan. Dylan as cool as you like despatched the ball past the Vernon keeper – a goal scored with his right foot.

The scoreline stayed at 0-2 until half-time.

Half-Time: 0 – 2

Very rarely are matches (at this level) ever truly won at halftime and we needed to make the players aware of this. Vernon are not second in the division by chance they are there because they are a good side and we needed to maintain the fine form of the first half to ensure that we would come away from the game with maximum points to help with our own push into the top half of the table.

Will was introduced for Ryan, who had run himself out in the first half, chasing and winning almost every ball down the right in the first 35 minutes.

Macaulay was replaced in midfield by Craig who was replaced at centre half by Sam. Macaulay only just recovering from injury needs had been fully involved in a lot of the creativity of the first half and, like Ryan, looked as though he needed a rest.

Will was immediately into the action, his pace is always a threat to left backs and he was certainly causing problems down the Vernon left in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

On 15 minutes Colts went 0-3 up, and what a goal it was. The ball was played out to Connor on the left who took the ball on before putting over a quite simply brilliant cross for the on rushing Dylan to meet with the deftest of headers. Steering the ball towards the goal and beyond the reach of the Vernon keeper, Dylan completed what soccer-AM would refer to as the “perfect hatrick” – left foot – right foot – and header.

Vernon were now starting to press more than in any other time of the game as they looked to give themselves a lifeline. But Craig, Max, Will and Connor were still dominating the midfield play. Tom, Sam, Jack and Robbie were battling hard to close down the Vernon strikers, and as always Liam was on hand to make the difficult look simple when the inevitable shots came in.

Five minutes after scoring his 3 rd goal, Dylan almost scored a fourth. He picked up a loose ball, took it on, and seemed certain to roll the ball into the empty net. However, the Vernon number 5 put in perhaps the best last ditch tackle I have ever seen in Youth football to deny him.

Macaulay was introduced back into the play for Chris who had played well upfront with Dylan. Ryan was re-introduced into central midfield alongside Craig with Max dropping into central defence (alongside the impressive Sam) replacing Tom. Tom has improved greatly as this season has progressed and today he had another fine game.

The changes made, and the Colts continued to look comfortable but cautious. Chances were created by both sides and both sides defended resolutely.

With 10 minutes to go, Macaulay set up Dylan with a brilliant pass to complete the scoring.

Fulltime – 0 – 4

Summary:

That’s now 5 wins on the trot for the Colts – an excellent response to the Wilford experience on the 9 th March.

Today was not just about the score line it was about the performance. The clean sheet was just as pleasing as the goals scored and the importance of every role in the team is well understood and respected by all of the players.

Vernon are a good team and we wish them the very best of luck in their quest for promotion. However, we now have the chance to finish on equal points with them which shows the results of the recent fine form.

There were a lot of positives today and performances like that should be enjoyed. The one or two lessons were learned shall be kept for discussion another day.

I said to the players after the game that they should be very proud of what they achieved; Vernon must have started this game as pre-match favourites but in all honesty, the Colts played some excellent football and were deserved winners in the end.

The boys have now got themselves into a position where a 4 th (or even 3 rd) place finish is a real possibility. They have achieved this by playing as a team and every player playing his part in the past 5 games.

Lets hope that the final 2 game go as well and that the boys can go into the summer break full of optimism for next season. That said there is still 140 minutes (there or there about’s) to play before the curtain comes down on the season – and that’s not including the tournament.

Wednesday night we are away at Wollaton. We are meeting at Wollaton Hall at 6pm.

Thanks to Steve for running the line today – a good performance by you too and thanks for your help.

Well done lads.

Alan and Mark.