The
U10 Assassins rounded off their season in magnificent style by winning
the George Szekely cup, beating Whyteleafe 5-1 in the final at the
Old Coulsdon Colts' ground. Whyteleafe were stifled by Brockham’s
high tempo game and couldn’t match Badgers' penetration and finishing,
marshalled by manager Jason Rabbett’s astute tactical changes.
At
the start, both sides played defensively with Whyteleafe looking to
take advantage of wind and slope. Some initial nerves were evident
but Brockham settled sooner. Felix Saro-Wiwa started causing
difficulties for the Whyteleafe defence and, when they committed three
players to the tackle, he managed to slip the ball through to an unmarked
William Pereira who pushed it past the keeper for the first goal.
Brockham
managed to find an advantage in all situations. Chris Walton’s
excellent long throw bypassed the Whyteleafe defence and Sam Lloyd
finished with aplomb. Pereira harried the defence, won the ball,
beat three defenders, shot and then knocked in the rebound. Saro-Wiwa was fouled on one of his rampaging runs, and struck the
free kick beautifully past the keeper from long range.
Whyteleafe
briefly glimpsed a way back into the game when they struck an unstoppable
shot past the Brockham keeper Jamie Luckins, but Tom Hampshire and
Tom Charman in the Brockham defence, supported by Lloyd and then Walton
in defensive midfield roles, never offered another chance.
At
the other end, Luke Brightman, James Rabbetts and Lloyd were too much
of a handful for Whyteleafe. Lloyd found Cameron Boychuk free
in a characteristically dangerous position and he turned and drilled
the ball into the bottom left hand corner for the final goal.
Brockham
were simply too determined and skilful for Whyteleafe and thoroughly
deserved the silverware.
Squad: Jamie Luckins, Tom Hampshire,
Chris Walton, Tom Charman, Luke Brightman, Cameron Boychuck, Sam Lloyd
(c), James Rabbetts, Felix Saro-Wiwa, William Pereira.
The move of the game came from a long diagonal pass from Luc Jhugroo to Nathan Hughes, who ran one-on-one with Epsom's keeper. But the keeper stood tall and the shot went wide. A long goal kick drew Cameron Wallis off his line, but quick thinking from Epsom's striker allowed him to lob the ball into the net for their third goal.
Brockham kicked off the second half but a loose pass allowed Epsom to slot home their fourth. A fifth soon followed and, with Epsom now playing with a swagger, they broke the defence of George Gomes and Archie Knight and scored their sixth goal.
Brockham made some changes leading into the final minutes of the game - and they paid dividends. Ashley Marshall and Lewis Wood started to gain more possession, which allowed George Fenwick and Nathan Hughes to make good runs and open Epsom's defence. The breakthrough came in the penultimate minute, when Ashley Marshall's shot from just out of the area went into the net. This gave Brockham belief and another sweeping move combining Lewis Wood, Ashley Marshall and George Gomes enabled Nathan Hughes to score his eighteenth goal of the season.
Whilst the two late goals were unlikely to change the final result, they showed the character of the U10 Barbarians - even when down they will never give up until the final whistle has been blown.
Squad: Cameron Wallis, Lewis Wood, Ashley Marshall (c), Ali Masson, Nathan Hughes, Archie Knight, George Fenwick, Luc Jhugroo, George Gomes
Player of the week: George Gomes - most committed player!
The tournament season kicked off for the U9s with the Tadworth Cup 2007. In hot conditions, sixteen teams from across Surrey and Hampshire battled it out, firstly in a group format then a knock-out phase.
The
U9 (Reds) not only did not concede a goal throughout the competition,
but went on to win it with a solid
1-0 victory against Horsham Saints.
After excellent work on the left from Jack Stradling, Adam Moriarty
coolly
slotted home from six yards after which the result was never really
in doubt.
Great performances today from all our boys - a special mention
though to Andrew Kensett who made two
fantastic penalty saves to win
the semi-final penalty shoot-out for us - plus some spectacular goals
from
distance for Jack Stradling. Well done all!
