A very hard away fixture at top of the table @ Balham FC

Southern Youth Football League
West Division

Balham (3) v (1) CB Hounslow U18s

Thursday 8th October 2015 – 19:45 KO

Away to top of the league tonight Balham, arriving with confidence & looking forward to the game, the boys are starting to gel & understand the way we set out to play as a team. Slow start from both teams, quite a boring, slow 15 minutes, however, we had chances & so did Balham. Balham switched play well on 25 minutes & with a decent ball across the box we went 1-0 down. On 35 minutes later Elisard chipped the keeper but the linesman flagged for offside. Balham controlled the midfield for a spell & with a good bit of play they went 2-0.

Half Time losing 2-0

Second Half:

The half time talk was more an agreement that we was not doing enough, we all agreed that we was much better than the previous 45 minutes; with that, the boys started with good desire, not forcing things but playing forwards with confidence & working hard when out of possession…an even game so far for the second half; subs on 65th minute; Scotty for Brandon Logie, Ahren for Mr Oliver Wright & Elisard for Cain. Fresh legs & fantastic desire from them proved to inspire the team, excellent “playing the ball forwards” & playing with purpose, understanding it was a game of 2 halves & we was going to make a good account of ourselves. Unfortunately, Balham pushed forwards & the left winger beat George at his front post; 3-0 against the run of play. Sub on 70th minute: Jake for Connor. The CB Boys showed resilience & kept the momentum, with that, great work from Antwayne & AGAIN showing his fitness & that “you will not beat me” attitude slipped the ball through to substitute Cain who picked up the ball 10 yards inside Balham’s Half & drove forwards with aggression, past one player, skipped another players late tackle……one on one with the keeper….. Darting in from the left hand side…Cain had a go, a great strike, left footed; excellent clean strike past the Goalkeeper into the bottom right hand corner 3-1… Game on.

Over all a disappointing first half, although, I was happy that the boys all recognised this & proved themselves during the second half with a solid performance creating chances & working hard when out of possession.

Remember boys: Everyone wants to beat you, no team will give you an easy game & in this league, you will not win without having to give your all doing things right for 90++++ minutes i.e. until the end. FROM THE OFF… over all, a respectful come back to challenge the league leaders; more lessons learned for this new team, “start the game hard & fast until the ref blows for time” every game.

Man of the Match: Antwayne Plummer – Never knows when he is beaten... Love That

David Logie, Manager
CB Hounslow United U18s Elite