If I tell you that Ripley drew 0-0 with Allestree (who stuck 18, 17, 15 & 12 goals past us before Christmas) today's scoreline starts to give you an idea of the extent to which LEFC U11's have improved in recent matches. The team put in a spirited and determined display against an opposition that are likely to finish in the top two of Division 1 of the Derby City League.
A couple of defensive misjudgements contributed to the 3-0 halftime scoreline but Ripley had to wait until late in the game before adding the 4th with a fine breakaway goal. Over the match as a whole it was LEFC's finest defensive display of the season.
One of the secrets of being a vaguely decent under 11's manager is being able to remain composed when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Yesterday's pre-match preparations had the usual feel:
...the right winger was taken sick overnight. (No worries - plan B deployed). Transport limitations then meant that a couple of would be players had to be sent home from the pick up point (Plan C into motion). A local landlord then wanted to discuss our pick up point. After 15 wasted minutes I resorted to Plan D - I distributed the kit so that the players could change in the cars on the way to the opposition ground (the sort of improvised thinking that put the Great into Britain).
A word of warning...If you're thinking of travelling north of junction 25 on the M1 just bear in mind they're road widening for the rest of the century and you'll not top 50mph. Fifteen minutes behind schedule soon became 30. When kids started to emerge from their cars still clutching their pristine kit it was clear that my communication skills had let me down. Plan D up the Swanny. Quick deployment of my GCSE maths skills suggested that there was no way that we could get to the distant pitch, get the key for the changing room, get back to the changing room and then back to the pitch for anything earlier than a midday kick off. Plan E - change in the back of parked vehicles.
To complete my depression an incredibly well drilled opposition looked as though they were warming down at the end of a seriously professional training session. With our centre forward still doing origami with his limbs and a pair of tracksuit bottoms the match kicked off with our left back playing up front.
What of the match?...
Ryan and Kirk were outstanding at full back. I lost count of how many tackles Ryan made and Kirk was (as always) comfortable in possession and got serious distance on his clearances. Robbie did his best to emulate his brother (who was on Derby County's books) in goals and there was nothing that he could do about the 3 first half goals. Nass pulled off a number of good saves in the second half (watch out Thomas, Nass is after your shirt). Once they'd sorted out the marking Richard and Matthew D managed to restrict the danger through the middle.
In addition to the full backs the other massive improvement was in central midfield. Matthew H played with outstanding intelligence and energy. I lost count of the number of interceptions and covering runs that he made. A real warrior of a performance. Holding it all together was Captain Marvel Ahmed. The opposition said that he was the best player on the pitch. Enough said.
Cedrick showed glimpses of his ability to stretch the opposition down the left. Credit must go to Thomas B who was one of a number of players who played out of position for the sake of the team. Playing up front, Kieron made the Ripley defenders work hard for their clean sheet and in the second half Sajid showed glimpses of his ability to cover the ground and work the opposition.
The challenge now is to be more constructive in the opposition half. The return of our wide right players should help but we'll only exploit this if we get our heads up and start making our passes.
Well done lads - the need to work on passing means that 3 touch football will be the order of the day at training on Thursday.
Man of The Match: Ahmed/Ryan
Substitute of the week (courtesy of the trackie bottoms & lack of transport): Kieron
Special skills award: Kirk/Nass
Special mentions: Dominic Harris, Chris Maden - without whose transport there would have been no team and no match!
Extra special mentions: Ian Thomas (who came to support us despite not having a child in the team) & Ian Craig (who came to the pick up point despite his own son being ill). Thank you one and all.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
UNDER 11's MATCH REPORT: Ripley Town 4 - 0 LEFC
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