This weekend we managed to photograph 258 players, managers, coaches, committee members and volunteers. Thanks to all involved for your help, and thanks to Club Legends for their superb organisation!
Another weekend with a busy kitchen, and smiling happy kids playing football to deliver some fantastic home and away performances.
Read on to find out more…..
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U7’s were at home this morning against S4K Langley Llamas U7s
We picked up our 2nd win in the development league
The game was non stop action from start to finish, with both sides having an eye for goal throughout the game, with our keeper making some big saves & some great passing on show from us too which was great to see as we’ve been working on passing in training
Smiles all around once again ðŸ˜
Goalscorers: Nihal, Reuben, Stanley, Aryan
PotM today was Neel, absolutely solid at the back and 1st thought was always win the ball and get it forward
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U8’s played at home today against Sporttiers White U8’s.
We previously played them in a pre season friendly in which they beat us, but with a close score line.
Today however, saw the opposition take an early lead which then saw the heads of our team drop again. This is something I will continue to work on with them. I tell them week in and week out we don’t put our heads down we get out there and have fun! The results don’t always reflect the quality of the game. They played some good football. It’s development football and if they go out there each week being the best and winning everything there’d be nothing to develop.
Win, lose or draw I will teach my team that we always hold our heads up and we play.
We had plenty of shots today but frustratingly each one just fell effortlessly into the keeper’s hands. Whereas the score line would have been greater if it wasn’t for Shea pulling off several great saves in our goal.
The opposition were again a very physical side, but our team just got back up and carried on. Today just wasn’t our day but the next one might be! So we go again!
Player of the Match went to Leo for being consistently strong and batting hard.
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U9 colts played a friendly against a really strong Sutton United.
The boys from Sutton showed that they had the hunger and dedication to win which they did.
I'm very proud of my boys because they played a division 1 team while we are division 11. To only lose as they did was a good effort from the whole team. We came out really competitive in the first two quarters but got tired and gave up in the 2nd half of the game. Sutton were just a different class. But as one of my fellow sandgate managers says 'to be the best we have to beat the best'. Now we know what we need to work on to get to that level. The boys seem committed to working on getting to that level before we get to competitive football.
The managers player of the match goes to the whole team. Working hard together to stop a strong, organised team from getting a higher score.
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U10s won away to west side. Dominant performance with great football on a terrible pitch. Player of match was new boy Eesa
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U10 Colts were supposed to play Sporttiers White but we ended up playing Harefield Reds.
We lost and I must say Harefield were really playing well. After speaking to their coach at the end of the game it turned out that they have been placed in the wrong division. He did acknowledge that this was not a fair game due to the massive difference in player ability.
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U11s played away against Langley FC Youth
Another very close game filled with lots of end-to-end action and both teams again hitting the woodworks. A free kick from the halfway line by Mason bounced over the defence as Viaan chased it to find himself 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper and calmly slotted it past him. The next real chance came to our opposition as their number 9 picked up the ball on edge of his penalty area, effortlessly skipped past half our team before being fouled by Callum who swiftly redeemed himself by saving the penalty. A few minutes later Viaan's cross was flicked past the goalkeeper by Blake and landed at Samrath's feet who tapped in into the empty net for the win.
POTM: Robyn for tireless work going up and down the right wing. Pure class going forwards and defending.
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U12 Reds beat Richmond and Kew 8-0. Good performance after last week’s disappointing cup game. Some really good performances from all.
Player of the match - We had 3 today who stood out for all different reasons.
Jake - Excellent in goal first half and scored 4 in the second half
Enock - Really battled hard and was so rapid on the pitch winning the ball whenever it came his side
Umair - Only his 4th ever game of football and showed all the bits we have worked on at training. He won all his battles second half and helped keep the defence.
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U12 Colts took on Reigate Priory Kestrals at home.
The boys played some good football, but just lacked that killer instinct to convert their chances. First half our defence allowed the oppo way too much time as the Reigate player walked the ball from his end to ours for an easy tap in to go into the break 0-1 up.
The boys tried to come back strong, but the Reigate keeper had a fantastic game keeping us at bay, several of the team coming close but not capitalizing. Reigate secured a second, and the game finished 0-2. Sorry loss for the team today with a score that doesn't reflect their performance.
PotM – Mason – great effort in the middle today, worked hard and his calmness and quality on the ball was a pleasure to watch.
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U13 Reds played top of the table mitcham park. The boys dominated the ball from the outset and found themselves 1-0 up through a great strike from Harry. Mitcham equalised shortly before half time with their only shot of the first half. Ht 1-1. Boys again came out and dominated possession of the football but to no avail before a rather dubious penalty put mitcham 2-1 up with their second shot on our goal. The boys battled hard against a hostile home crowd and got their just rewards when Jenson scored twice and a goal from Ekam sealed the very deserved victory.
Goal scorers: Harry, Jenson 2, Ekam
PotM went to the whole squad as it was very much a team effort out there today.
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U13 played Corinthians Casuals and continued our unbeaten start to the season, we started well scoring early before they put 10 men behind the ball, we persevered and deservedly went on to win the game 6-1.
Goals: Walter 2, Youvie 2, Casey, Tommy G
Player of the match went to Walter for a great all round performance, great goals, assists and general good play.
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U14s played home to Croygas Falcons.
Bit of a nervy start to the game for both teams trying to suss each other out.
We finally found our feet scoring 3 in the first half. Probably the best football I’ve seen from our team for a good while. Our passing and moving, work rate, letting the ball do the work just caught out Croygas.
We then went on to score another 5 in the second half. Final score 8-0
Scorers : Kai, Youcef 2, Jordan 2, Pav, Musti 2
Every player could have got Man of the match today but one boy stood out a tiny bit more, playing a year up and being two years younger than a couple of boys.
PotM - Jad 🆠- Outstanding performance from our little Xabi
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U14 Colts had an early start this morning which didn’t seem to affect their approach to the game against AFC Walcountians.
We’d worked hard in training on passing and being available to support team mates which showed with us playing some much better football as a team creating many chances that we failed to convert. Walcountians took the lead but we continued to play the better football which saw Adam score an equaliser.
A controversial decision by the ref to not award our goal that had bounced back off the rear stanchions into the hands of the goalkeeper saw a temporary shift in momentum for our hosts who took advantage of this to score heading into the break 3-1 up.
Our half time talk focused on the fact we’d been playing by far the better football of the two teams just not being clinical enough in the final third.
At the restart we came out the stronger of the two teams again and showed the impact of playing as a team with some quality passing. Adam reduced the deficit with his second goal of the morning followed by two from Ryleigh to give us a 3-4 lead.
The game was end to end as Walcountians tried to regain a foothold in the game but Kurtis’ composure to chip the keeper extended our lead.
We sadly switched off and conceded in the final minute showing we need to remain focused throughout but took a well-deserved three points with a 4-5 victory.
Probably our best performance of the season, working hard as a team and showing the impact of bringing what we work on in training sessions into the match day.
Goals - Adam (2), Ryleigh (2), Kurtis
Player of the match - Romeo for an outstanding performance in his first game playing in central defence.
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Under 15s played our lovely rivals from South London. Game entertained for all the wrong reasons and ended up beating Mitcham park 2-0.
PotM was the referee for putting up with a lot of unnecessary verbal
