SUTTON FRIENDLY

Ravens win 4-1 on penalties

Sub: P Barber

Unavailable

• J.Barnes

• H.Abbott

• M.Halloran

• CJ Powell  

I know this was a friendly but the performance definitely warrants a match report.  I will start with the introductions of the two new faces that played for us today.  This friendly has come at a good time to allow us to try 1 or 2 new things out.  1stly, in goal was Thomas Miller.  Tom is the ex Heathway goalkeeper who has impressed me with his performances at the Sheldon Little League on a Saturday.  Jack Foster played left back.  Jack is ex Phoenix and is also impressing me each Saturday at the little league so it was a good chance to give them both a run out.

The late withdrawals of Henners and Michael slightly upset the plans we had but we managed to get by with the 12 we had.  Obviously by playing Tom in goal that gave us another chance to have a look at Ryan playing outfield.  Yet again he impressed everyone with his composure, vision and neat touches.  Without doubt Ryan could offer something to the team as an outfield player but he is also such a talented goalkeeper that it is a real dilemma for everyone, especially Ryan as to what is the best role for him.  After the 5 years brilliant service he has given us I think I am just going to let him decide himself.

We tried a new look defence today by adding the pace of Matt Barber to right back.  Deano reverted to sweeper after we decided to give Mikey a run in midfield, where he has been impressing for his school team.

Alex has generally played midfield for us this season but we used today to have a look at him upfront and yet again he has given us something to think about after a great display.

We had a lot of defending to do in the early part of the match which was no surprise considering the calibre of opponent and the big slope we were kicking up.  While I am on the subject, Sutton are 2nd in the Premier Division of the league they play in so I hope that emphasises how well we did today.

I saw an immediate difference in our back four today just by having a bit of extra pace.  The lads who played there today are by no means any better than our other boys but at this level pace is a real asset and several times in the early stages Matt and Jack’s extra yard stopped danger.  Scotty was marshalling the back four brilliantly and his display in the 1st 20 minutes was probably his best of a very good season.  Today we seemed to mean our tackles.  The back four, Mark and Ryan all threw themselves into challenges, which has been a weakness of ours in recent games.  We were winning the 50 50 balls.

As the game went on we got a foothold and began to play all the football.  The midfield were taking control and Dylan, Alex and Graham were finding space.  Our best opportunity of the half came when Graham’s corner was superbly met by Alex’s header which was superbly saved. 

The 2nd period saw us really take control.  Graham was a handful and Alex’s intro’ to front line was causing chaos for Sutton.  Alex had 2 more great efforts saved and Ryan’s bullet headed flashed inches over the bar from another Graham corner.  Dylan and Ryan were using the wings well and our back four were still cutting out any danger.  Matt Barber was surging forward and we had taken control.  Finally we got the break through when Alex was brought down in the box.  Mark stepped up and coolly put us 1-0 up.

For those who were not there we did not play two 30-minute half’s.  We played three 20-minute periods.  So after two periods we were 1-0 up.  The final period saw us going up the hill again so it was going to be tough.  Sutton had quickly equalised but Alex got his deserved goal when he fired over the keeper.  We defended resolutely for the last 10 minutes and we were really unlucky to concede the equaliser with 30 seconds to go.

Both managers decided a penalty shoot out would be fun.  We won it 4-1 with once again all of our takers scoring (Mark, Ryan, Dean, Matt B).  Poor old Graham never got to step up again as we had already won.

Well done lads.  A great result and a great performance that sets us up nicely for the Coldlands game in a fortnight. 

Well done to all of you who played a new position.  It’s not easy and you did great.  I’ve learnt a lot more about you all today.

See you Tues..

Steve