U8 Calcio Select - Opponent
Calcio roared back from their week off with a dominant 11-3 victory against Leeds Riverside Elite Whites, recording a fourth consecutive win in the process.
The match started in an exciting manner as, in a sign of things to come, the team played from back to front in their very first attack, with Martin, who delivered a five-star performance, taking on his man and firing narrowly wide. It wasn't long until Martin put Calcio on the scoresheet, however, as a pass from Will allowed Martin to fire Calcio into a 1-0 lead. Shortly afterwards, Martin doubled his tally, this time assisted by a brilliant Luca pass, in the first of his five assists of the game. Calcio were in good control of the game, giving little away to Leeds Riverside Elite, and that was compounded by Luca tucking away from another Will assist, leaving Calcio 3-0 at the end of the first third.
The second third started in much the same way as the third, and it didn't take long for Calcio to double their 3-0 advantage. First to score was Robin, then Will, and then Grayson, who fired across goal from the left hand side. All three goals came from Luca assists, as his creativity and unselfish decision-making set up chances left, right, and centre. However, at 6-0 up, the team switched off somewhat, with spaces opening up in the middle for Leeds Riverside Elite to exploit. As a result, from a position of strength, three quick goals at the end of the second third left the scoreline much more perilous than we would have expected, as we went into the final break 6-3 up.
Happily, however, the Calcio boys really responded to the challenge that the disappointing final ten minutes of the middle third had set up for them, producing a truly dominant final third, in which Will had no saves to make in net. Martin opened the scoring in the third and completed his hattrick, winning the ball from a Riverside Elite goal kick before slotting calmly home. Martin then turned creator, setting up Grayson to score a very similar goal to his first, from the left channel to the right bottom corner. Martin then made it 9-3 and 10-3, to complete his five-goal haul, with the first goal assisted by Luca and the second by Grayson. And in a final flourish, Robin smashed the ball home from a good Grayson pass, to leave the score a well-deserved 11-3 win.
A pretty good performance all-round by Calcio, in a game where minus a ten minute blip, Leeds Riverside Elite created few chances. Special mentions go to the five-star performances of Martin and Luca, with the former bagging five goals and the latter creating five. Ted was once again phenomenal at the back, making countless defensive contributions that set the side on their way. As usual, Robin scored a couple of bangers, and Grayson showed fantastic composure in slotting his away. Will produced an excellent all-round performance, not only in scoring and assisting, but reading the game so well, creating from the back as goalkeeper, and winning the ball back many times.
Two games next week: the side travel to Thorpe Arch on Tuesday, before another 10am kick off versus GT Sports on Saturday.
