Boys U16 (2010) Major 1 - Newbridge United

We had blue skies for the 10am kickoff and it was a cracking day for a cracking match.

We had a good warm-up, and then discussed our formation. We seem to do quite well in a 4-5-1 formation against Arlington the previous week, so used that formation against Newbridge who we narrowly beat 2-1 in our previous encounter.

Our goal was not to concede early and to make it hard for them to get through us down the centre. We also discussed being more patient when we had the ball and trying to short passes to work our way up the pitch and getting the whole team up the pitch rather than inviting attack after attack like we did last week.

We looked comfortable in defence and seemed to control the midfield well, although we ended up going 2-0 down in the first half. We had plenty of chances and shots on goal before managing to claw a goal back to go into the break 2-1 down.

At half time, we discussed playing out to the sides, where we were getting a lot of joy up the wings, rather than playing long balls up the middle to our forward. It was great to see them take this on board, and we started to look very dangerous in attack.

We got another goal in the second half to make it 2-2, and Newbridge held on well as we hit the crossbar and dragged a few shots just wide.

Any other day we could have slotted a few of those home, and it could have easily been a 6-2 win.

It was great to have three subs, although Chris didn't manage to play due to his hip. It was also great to see Joseph turn up to support the team even though he was injured.

The lads put in an immense shift, and we were constantly rotating guys on and off so they could get their breath back.

Well done, lads. See you in training this week while we prepare for our final league game, against Moone.