brinsworthwhitehilljfc

Yet another lovely spring day dawned as we made the short trip to Todwick.

It was all change again for the final instalment of our squad rotation experiment, and we were rewarded with some of the best football played by the U7 this season. The pitch was huge and sloping, so we played a tactical game, choosing to play up the hill in the first half of both games, and to sit back, defend and hit on the counter.

In the first game, it worked a treat. We soaked up attack after attack, with Jack standing tall against everything thrown at him. Ryan stood his ground and Ben played us out of defence at every opportunity. Sophie and Matthew were the supporting act, breaking up the home sides rhythm and we attempted to break out up the hill, with one such push resulting in a great strike by Harry to open up. With the confidence gained from the first half, we turned round at the break with a much more attacking formation, and gave Ben and Sophie licence to run at the hosts down the hill. This time it was our turn to be caught napping but we soon found our stride again, with Ben putting ball after ball into the box for Harry, only for it to run away from him every time. The direct approach was called for and Ben delivered into the Harry's feet and he pushed it past the keeper for his second before the end. We'd played a great passing game, been patient when it was needed and defended superbly.

The second game seemed to offer the same possibilities and the first half followed almost the same pattern, with solid defence interspersed with counter attacks. It was Kian, fed by Luke, who found himself running out of steam by the time it came to shoot, but as the game went on, Callum grew in confidence and delivered a great pass for Kian to slot home. At the back, Caleb and Owen proved to be an unbreakable partnership, and Haaris also stood firm when needed. The passing between all our players was really good and they used the space well. In the second half, we went for the through ball and never had the ball out of their half. It was only the slope and woodwork that kept us out. A shot from Luke though saw a goalmouth scramble, with the keeper unable to hold on, and Haaris leapt on the chance to put away his second of the season, setting off in celebration back to half way! Kian went off injured and Ben came back on for the last couple of minutes having had a long rest and his pace left the defence for dead. He capped off a fine performance by driving home a third into the bottom corner.

In both games, we played fantastically well against a team that's been playing at U8 level this season, which shows the potential we have as a squad.