S&L Juniors U12 Whites (JS) 26/27 - Walton and Hersham U12 Comets

Away Spirit Cup match against very friendly and competitive opposition. Played on Grass pitch in sunny and warm conditions.

6-0 loss in the end. Another game where for long spells we were certainly well matched, even better in periods. I reckon we had a minimum of 10 shots, all reasonable, and attacking play looked fluid and dangerous. These teams in the cup games may be a number of divisions above, so don't let this impact positivity for the season.

Today we spoke about trying to slow possession down (not just getting ball and moving forwards immediately) to give us more thought and better passes/ runs/ shots as a result. With regard to today: if we stopped on the ball to turn it inside to a team mate, we may have seen more shots converted. They become more definite chances, less shots that are good if they go in.

We got that defender on the front post today in corners with a job to clear the ball only, and stop it coming across the box. We assess that all defending from box clearances is a little stationary at present, and probably the biggest cause of the oppo scoring. We almost need to give ourselves a metre or so to jump forwards and meet the ball, getting better clearing contact. We'll work on this in training.

Also some mistakes from playing out of goal/ from the back. We will also keep on this. If oppo attackers are forward we may choose to kick over the top. If they hold back, then passing from the back may be the play. See what the game is doing...

in Midfield we won the ball back well, and turned possession over lots. I thought we were the best team here for sure.

In Defence we had good cover from Midfield and were rarely overloaded. Great to see effort to get back goal side and using dead ball time to reset to position. Lots of running and hard work - well done.

It really was a great game to watch. It never felt like we were ever out, and we expected goals were inevitable for us. We were just a bit off. On another day we may have scored many more of our chances.

Player of the Match was a tough decision as always, but this had to go to Prayagh in CB. Always top level of effort and a great help in stopping oppo's attacks.

We have a nice break now where we will train when possible. The next game is against a team that is very winnable. If we play like we did against the Blues last time we played, I know we'll start to see some winning results.