U12 Blacks 25/26 - Pro Elite
A game of two halfs!
Where do I start?
Well, let's start with a massive well done to the boys for showing loads resilience, belief and ability to get back in the game from 4-1 down, where others may have crumbled. Super happy with how they dug in, pulled their sleeves up and got back into the game.
Pro Elite went man to may today which gave us a problem to solve when playing out from the back. Two many times in the first 40 minutes, our play was predictable, and we lost the ball too many times in our own half. At the break, the boys said they needed be more intense and agressive their reactions to win the ball back, and calmer in possession especially on the turnover by securing the first pass. So we recapped on things we'd worked on this week and I thought boys did brilliantly coming up with the solutions to the challenge.
This was demonstrated in the last 40 minutes, where we showed a lot more variety in our style that helped us to get out - when to go long to the second and third line / when to go short to a defender / and when to be brave and to stay on the ball. For example, Aiden's distribution was superb (as was his shot stopping) in the second half, sometimes he would go long and in behind when we had the advantage up front, and other times he'd ping a ball out to a midfielder. I know it didn't always work, but when it did, they couldn't touch us.
Before the third quarter, at 4-1 down, I set the boys a challenge to score three in this quarter. We went two better than that and scored FIVE! And we had at least two or three really good chances to extended the lead in the last quarter, but their keeper, who played well, was equal to the shots he faced.
Corners and crosses were our kryptonite today! We conceeded at least four from corners and crosses. Much of it down to losing the player we were marking because we're watching the ball and not our player. We need to get more first and second contacts on the ball from crosses, and if we can't win it, react quickly and do everything to make it harder for the oppsition to get clean contact on the ball by unbalancing them.
In summary, lots of positives to take from the game and if we start games like we played in the last 40 minutes, we're going to be hard to beat. You could see how much the draw meant to Pro Elite and you'll find this season we'll see a lot more of that - we're the team everyone wants to beat! I've know doubt the boys will rise to the challenge.
To everyone that was there to watch, thank you for the support . Please remember to make your player of the match votes. We'll share the Veo footage when it's ready.
Dave
Goals / Assists
Q1
Pro Elite x3
Q2
Isaac / Rocco
Pro Elite x1
Q3
Joshua / Isaac
Harry R
Joshua / Rocco
Pro Elite x1
Henry B
Joshua / Harry R
Q4
Pro Elite x1
