MAIDENHEAD COLTS 3 – ARBORFIELD ACES 2
The team on Saturday was Kai Enser in goal, Thomas Watson at left back (making his debut), Spencer Rigg-Hersom and Noah Sturrock central defence and Lucas Taylor right back. Owen Smyth left wing, Hisham Nadeem right wing and Tejas Chahal, Declan Pinto and Jake Stanley in central midfield and Josh Ewers up front. Starting subs Charlie Townsend, Ben Thompson and Freddie Nash.
Kick off 09.08am. Hisham shot. Declan shot. Josh shot. Noah good defending. Josh shot. Declan cross. Jake volleyed shot. Kai good catch. Josh header. 09.20 Declan cut the ball back to Jake who scored 1-0. Jake to Hisham. Declan cross. Declan corner. 09.21 Declan scored from Owen assist 2-0. 09.27 Sub: Ben on, Owen off. Jake to Hisham who played a great ball to Declan. Hisham free kick. Noah cleared for throw. 09.30 Their corner. 09.31 Sub: Josh off, Freddie on. 09.34 Conceded 2-1. Hisham great skill and run into box. 09.37 Sub: Charlie on for Thomas at left back. Jake, Tejas, Hisham nice passing move.
Kai great diving save. Hisham and Charlie one-two. Ben ball forward. 09.43 Lucas throw on right and Hisham great touch from throw and turn and then cross into box from right. Lucas great interception in defence and pass to Tejas on to Noah. Jake to Hisham. Spencer great shielding of the ball under pressure for Kai to collect. Spencer block. Jake to Tejas. Hisham laid back to Spencer. Lucas cleared for their throw. Kai collected their free kick. Kai watched the long shot well and caught it. Charlie header. Half time 09.50.
2nd half. 09.55. We started the 2nd half with the same positions as the first half with exception of swapping goalies so Freddie Nash went in goal. Starting subs Charlie, Kai and Ben.
Hisham tried to play ball to wing but intercepted. Declan back to Hisham who played it forward towards Josh. Thomas great play in defence. Lucas ball forward to Declan. Noah took goal kick. Hisham to Declan. 10.00 Their defender scored an own goal under pressure from Josh 3-1. Thomas to Owen. Thomas great interception and run forward. Jake moved in to cover Thomas’ position and won the ball back. Freddie fly kick to Declan on wing. Tejas to Josh to Declan. Noah run forward to win ball. Hisham ball forward to Declan to Owen who played ball forward. Owen awesome skills. Hisham to Lucas.
Owen to Jake to Owen. Owen took free kick. Freddie save. Owen to Lucas to Josh. 10.08 Sub: Tejas off, Kai on. Jake shot. Josh to Kai who went on run and his shot nearly went into top right corner. Jake great play despite losing a boot! Freddie collected ball. Goalie in error passed the ball to Josh who played it to Declan. Kai corner from right. 10.14 Sub: Hisham off, Ben on. Kai great ball forward and Ben run in on goalie. Thomas to Ben to Kai to Owen. 10.19 Sub: Charlie on for Josh. They scored a thunderbolt of a shot from distance to make it 3-2. Freddie collected the ball. 10.22 Sub: Jake off, Tejas on. Tejas great ball to Kai. Freddie save. Spencer to Owen. Their shot went across the face of our goal. Sub: Declan off, Hisham on. Thomas great ball forward, with Ben running in. 10.30 Sub Charlie off, Josh on.
Ben great tackle. 10.36 Sub: Charlie on, Kai off. Freddie save. Ben run. Ben shot.
Today’s performance was a pleasure to watch with all the boys playing well. Along with their improved match fitness now that we were playing our 3rd league match of the season, the passing play had improved significantly. Also some of the skills and touches were a delight to see. In my opinion the talented Owen Smyth had his best game for us so far as on top of his undoubted skill he improved his end product with much better interplay with his team-mates. All the team played well. So much so that the subs were sometimes reluctant to come on when the team on the pitch was playing so well! However, my Man of the Match went to Thomas Watson making his debut for the team and proving himself a valuable addition to the squad.
Following our 2 consecutive wins, the Colts moved into joint 4th out of 11 teams after 3 games in Division 6.