Boys U12 (2014) Red - Castle Villa AFC
The lads faced another long away day against rampant league leaders, Castle Villa AFC on a damp dreary Summer’s lot morning!
Recent results placed the home side as solid favourites having ramped up several high scoring results and not conceding a goal. Despite all that, it was Naas who will have walked away from this game wondering how they didnt get a result.
The first half was an even battle with Castle Villa dominating the early stages. With John missing, the defence took some time to get used to each other and it was not until Adi came on and Sam moved back to centre did the lads really get a foothold in the game. Matthew covered several hundred steps marching up and down the left touchline to take repeated throw ins while Geo and Alfie made use of the space on both wings.
Eoin and Murilo battled hard in the centre of the park with the ball spending a lot of time in the air. Sean and Logan both took turns upsetting the Castle Villa backline eager for even half a chance to score! A mazy dribble from Eoin was unlucky not to end in a chance while the same man had another unlucky effort following good work from Geo on the right wing. The ever reliable Conall had his quietest half of football in a long time with very little to do throughout.
Getting to half time st 0-0 against such a free scoring team felt like a major milestone and both the players and coaches were eager to get going again in the second half with both the breeze and hill hopefully giving us a slight advantage!
For much of the second half, Naas were the better side creating chances and putting massive pressure on the Castle Villa backline - Adi was an absolute rock at right full with nothing getting past him while Sam and Matthew continued to perform strongly.
Midfield was where the real battle was at and Naas, hampered by the loss of Murilo through injury, tried a number of different combinations in there to try break the deadlock. Logan, Eoin, Alfie & Geo all giving the opposition plenty to think about.
Naas forced a series of corners on both sides with the Castle Villa keeper also called into action several times. Naas’ best of the game came from a bursting run through the middle with the keeper parrying the ball back into the danger zone. Unfortunately, Sean was unable to rustle the net with the rebound and Castle Villa held on.
It was soon Castle Villa’s turn to test the Naas backline and with Naas failing to clear their lines, they were punished in the cruelest of fashion with the striker smashing the ball past Conall giving him no chance. 1-0 to Castle Villa with just under a quarter of the game to go!!!
Naas responded very well to going behing and continued as they had throughout much of the game, in control! The lads continued to work the ball forward in an effort to get back in the game even moving to 2 up top with Alfie and Geo leading the line!
Alas, despite strong performances across the pitch, the lads couldn’t find the equaliser they probably deserved and went home with nothing! So close yet so far…as has been the story so often this season!
Next up a home game versus nearby neighbours Caragh Celtic…
