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Involvement:: Cotgrave Parent

well lads we made hard work of it we were the better side but as the game went on the frustration began to grow we will get teams like that who will play to their way of playing we must not get into the in fighting as this plays into their hands not ours if you need evidence of this go on calvertons website and match report and they are right

This is the match report referred to above from the Calverton website - Link

Match Report – U14s - Calverton 1 v Cotgrave 3

Strong Showing From Colts As They Make League Struggle

A strong showing from the Colts today as they pushed the league leaders all the way to make Cotgrave work very hard for the result. With the injury list seeming to be longer than the list of fit players, a bare 11 players faced the strong side of Cotgrave, themselves with some injury problems.

The Colts lined up to frustrate the visitors, and it almost worked. Even though Calverton were on the back foot for much of the first half, Ryan Grantham was only forced into serious action on a couple of occasions. The opening goal came from a goalmouth scramble following a corner when the Colts were punished for failing to clear their lines.

But they bounced back and took advantage of a following wind to set Greg Johnston on a number of probing runs. Again Greg had the Cotgrave defence panicking with his speed, and it was a run from Greg into the penalty area that brought about the Calverton equaliser as he was brought down illegally when through on goal. Captain Alex Troke stepped up to slam the ball home.

That scoreline lasted up to half-time, and was clearly not what Cotgrave expected. They were growing increasingly frustrated with the referee, themselves, and started arguing. This played into Calverton’s hands a little as the longer the Colts could hold out, the more desperate Cotgrave were becoming.

Only 15 minutes remained when Cotgrave finally broke the deadlock with a well taken goal that wrong-footed the Calverton defence who had let the player go on a nice run. The final goal from Cotgrave came from a defensive slip-up between Lewis Wilson and Ryan Grantham that allowed a striker to toe poke the ball home just before the final whistle.

Clearly Cotgrave deserved their win, but the Colts can take a lot from the game as they almost pulled off a similar result to Bulwell at home, or Bingham away, when they simply played to their strengths. Both sides can learn from today – Calverton on how to almost grind out a result, and Cotgrave on how to deal with a team who line up to try and frustrate.

A number of players had their best outing of the season today including Callum Burton. Alex Troke was again commanding in central defence, and Greg Johnston was awarded man of the match.

Overall, the lads can feel very pleased with such a close result. It all augurs well for next season when hopefully the injury situation will have eased, and a couple of new signings will strengthen the squad.

There is no truth in recent press reports that Harry’s transfer from Arnold is the subject of Lord Stevens report into managers receiving bungs, though Andy is certainly looking forward to St Patrick’s Day with a spring in his step, and he has been a bit flush lately.

Well done lads.

Final score – Calverton 1 v Cotgrave 3