Hi all and welcome to half-time
Can I start my first half way point report as a manager by saying how nice it is
to finally be writing this as we are now in February, September and the start of
the season seem such a long time ago, and after all the preseason stress of
putting together a new team with only 5 current GYFC players eligible to sign
for the under 9s this season. The search started as soon as last season was
over, and after a productive few weeks at summer school along with a couple of
other excellent additions before that our numbers were up to 12 and looking
promising for achieving a full squad by the start of the season. After a mixed
preseason in which our best win was away at Eckington walking away with a 14-3
win and a heaviest defeat of 7-2 at Sheff Utd Junior Blades, the season got off
to a reasonable start with our first win coming in only our second game, and
this seemed to make my target of 4 wins this season seem very realistic. This
excellent start owed more than a little to both my goal keepers, Andrew
Patterson and Reef Hocking, looking at home between the posts and getting
sharper every game. Both these players, along with the ever dependable Sam
Wright and the forward thinking Tommy Claridge, are starting to give confidence
to the new boys at the back Dan Taylor, Benji Randell and Joe Coldwell.
Improvements could also be seen quickly in the middle of the park with big
improvements in passing and the hard work needed to cope in this tough division.
With Jack Dawson at the front of the bunch when it comes to covering every blade
of grass backed up with the pace of Elliott Stephenson and Harry Irons this was
one team looking strong however goals were hard to come by early on however this
issue was soon resolved when Harvey Chambers hit a rich vein of form soon
followed by Joe Kenny who without a doubt is the best goal scorer the club has
from 2 yards out, now he has combined this with quick passes into feet he looks
more confidant game by game. In our other side the midfield general Alex Elia
and the pace an determination of both Mitch Sutton and George Morris gave us a
very strong looking side with Oilver Saunders an Lewis Quinn looking to find the
back of the net, effort was never a problem for either side however sometimes we
lack the concentration and reading of the game the more established sides seem
to have gained though experience. A few weeks into the season, along came a
quite lad by the name of Maclaine Marshall claiming to be a forward however
after just a couple of weeks it became clear that we had found our missing Chris
Morgan at the back and we as a team have become tighter as a unit an started to
grow week by week into a better team this has helped us to secure a quarter
final trophy spot and to climb from 9th to 7th in the league which if we can
secure this spot to the end of the season will have exceeded all our
expectations for this season, so long may our improvement continue. Well done
boys and a big thank you to all our very supportive parents and a very big
thanks to Rachel Chambers for keeping me organized with my paperwork and subs
and to Lee Morris for both training an advice throughout the season cheers pal.
Andy
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