UNDER 11's MATCH REPORT: LEFC 1 - 5 Mickleover

Junior football as God intended. 27 kids enjoyed an end-to-end game that was played in good spirit with nothing but positive encouragement from the sidelines. A real positive advert for the Derby City League.

Don’t be deceived by the score line – this was a closely contested match and on another day the score could have been very different.

Playing into the wind LEFC looked solid for the first 12 minutes; the defence again showed their improvement with Matthew and Richard in the centre and Thomas and Nass at full back all looking good. Sadly, 4 soft goals before half time undid the hard work. Our Achilles heel of failing to close down at crosses and corners twice did for us; an unfortunate handball and defensive mistake accounted for the others. In between times LEFC threatened the Mickleover goal on a number of occasions, with Sajid coming the closest when his floated shot drifted just wide.

With the wind behind them LEFC bossed the second half. On more than one occasion Ahmed had half the Mickleover team trying to stop in. Bradley, Kieron, Ryan, James and Kirk all came close. Eventually a Bradley shot was parried by the keeper into the onrushing Ryan, who made no mistake. How we only scored the one goal I will never know.

The night before the match I’d told my son that if we let in less than 5 goals I’d run naked round the Derby Road playing fields. With 10 minutes to go and the score at 4-1 frostbite and a prison sentence beckoned. The ref obviously appreciated my plight and awarded Mickleover another penalty. Never have I been so relieved to see the opposition score.

This was an enjoyable match and we look forward to having another crack against our friends from Mickleover in 3 weeks time.

Man of the Match: Ahmed

Special skills award: Thomas Stanton

Substitute of the week: Kirk & William (tied)

Reasons to be encouraged:

Where do I start?

• All 13 lads put in a high level of effort.
• The lads enjoy being part of a team and are starting to look a bit like a team.
• We’re slowly getting better - A month ago we got thrashed 8-0 by Mickleover. On Saturday we gave them a good run for their money.
• We can and will get better

The ref (and former LEFC coach) said:

• We’re playing head down football. We’ve got to start looking up and playing the pass. (3 touch football at training I think).
• When we pass we’ve got to start playing the ball in front of the player, not just to their feet.
• The forwards have got to start pointing to where they want the ball playing.
• The centre backs need to be more vocal in directing the team’s defending.

The bloke on the touchline said:

Best game I’ve seen all season (and I’m a Chelsea season ticket holder)

The little girl on the touchline said:

Why do they have 2 sets of goalposts Daddy? (Cue look of despair on Daddy’s face)

Thank you to:

Dave – the best lino in the Derby City League

MaD – Mums and Dads – the vocal encouragement that you provide makes a real difference – Sarah and Jo out shouted our Dads. The challenge is on Dads! Thanks for putting the nets up as well.