Match Report

Signet United 7 - 4 Dunton Dynamos

U11 League Match - 27th April 2008

What a game this was! The penultimate League game of the season saw a weakened Dunton side away to Signet United. Signet have hit a run of form lately, and with Jordan and Harry unavailable this week, we knew it was going to be a tough game.

The game was started in mild, overcast conditions. The appointed referee had failed to show, meaning one of the Signet player's parents had to assume the role of referee. Compared to the last time we were here, the pitch was in very poor condition - the grass hadn't been cut for several weeks and the line markings were only just visible.

Dunton played a different formation this week, with captain Calum dropping into defence as centre-back along with James. Jack played as right-back and Cameron played on the left side. Our trusty keeper Liam was once again between the sticks displaying much of the form he had before he broke his foot earlier in the season. George adopted a new "holding" midfield role, playing in-front of the back four, but behind the midfield unit. Luke played out on the right wing with Ben out on the left. Dave played inside-right with Sonny inside-left. Billy was our lone striker up-front. Ethan was the nominated substitute for the first period, but as it turned out he was soon involved in the action.

Signet kicked off and the early play was evenly matched. The five man Dunton midfield appeared to be working well, with George able to snuff out any early Signet attacks. With about ten minutes played, Signet opened the scoring when our defence pushed up too far to allow Signet through on the breakaway. The Signet forward was one-on-one with our keeper and managed to slot the ball neatly home.

Dave had to come off with an injury to his left knee at this stage and for some reason, the team lost its shape for ten minutes. During this period, Signet scored two more similar goals. To our credit, our heads didn't go down and we managed to get a goal back through Sonny. Signet continued to press and managed two more goals before Ethan popped up to finish a well worked passage of play. Signet then scored a sixth before George ran the length of the field passing to his team-mates before lashing in a fantastic shot from the edge of the box. Billy also had a number of chances during this period but was unfortunate not to be able to convert any. It could have been 8-8 at half-time, it was that sort of game! As it was, the referee ended the half with the score 6-3 to Signet.

The second-half was a much tighter affair, but still remained a very entertaining spectacle. Billy continued to create a number of chances for himself by having the uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time. He was unable to take any of the chances he created and was clearly becoming frustrated by this. Eventually though, his perseverance paid off and he scored a fantastic breakaway goal, rounding the keeper to slot the ball home. He got the biggest cheer of the day! He clearly a natural in this centre-forward role and with time and patience, he'll be banging them in for fun!

Soon after, the referee ended the game with Signet winning 7-4. This was one of the most entertaining games we've seen all season and all the player's parents showed their appreciation with a warm round of applause at the end. The season is ending on a high note - player's confidence is improving and we think we've finally found a formation that suits our style.

Man of the match today was Ben who was fantastic throughout the game. He ran his heart out for the team, tackled well and made some fantastic passes. Most impressive of all though was the team performance - everyone was really up for this game and worked hard. The new formation seemed to suit us well and may be something we'll continue with based on today's performance. Liam looked solid again in goal and could do little to stop any of the Signet goals, Cameron was once again superb at left-back and has clearly been working on his passing and movement. Calum was very impressive at the heart of our defence and looks much better suited to that role than he does in midfield, James battled hard throughout the match and made a number of well-timed challenges. Jack was rock-solid at right back and displayed some excellent skills and linked well with Luke who played out on the right side. Indeed Luke played the best we've seen him play for a long time. After a slow start he became more and more involved in the game and made some excellent passes throughout the game. Dave gave another solid performance on the right side of midfield and played some fantastic through-balls for Billy to run on to. Sonny once again gave 100% - battling for every ball and scoring a cracking goal. George slotted in nicely to his new role and looked an even better player with his new found freedom. He scored a stunning individual goal just to prove he hasn't lost his touch. Ethan too had another excellent game - he's starting to look more and more like Cesc Fabrigas every day - he's got excellent close control and his passing in link-up play with his team-mates is very impressive. And last, but by no means least is Billy who gave another excellent display up-front. His pace is electrifying and he had several chances to score today, but only managed the one goal. On another day, he could have scored five or six - he was that good. So all in all, a very impressive team performance - well done boys!

Our thanks go to the Signet side for an excellent match played in good spirits throughout. Good luck next season too.