Youths Hit Magnificent Seven

Tom Taylor - scored twice

Injuries to both scholar goalkeepers meant a start for Centre of Excellence stopper Christian Thewlis. Ahead of him were 1^st year defenders Tom Anderson and Alex Coleman, with a midfield berth for Steven Hewitt. The rest of the team was made up of 2^nd years, with Dave Lynch captaining the side ahead of his trip to link up with the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad.

We started quite brightly but had to wait until around ten minutes in before our first clear cut chance came - and when it did it brought with it a goal. Joe McKee won the ball deep in his own half and broke forward, crossing the half way line. He looked up and played a defence splitting pass which Tom Taylor ran on to, firing at goal from an angle. The keeper parried and Joe Jackson was on hand to slide the ball home under challenge.

Minutes later the lead could have been doubled when Jackson broke free from the defence but he shot straight at the keeper. Our lead was extended on the 20 minute mark. Jackson was fed the ball on the left hand side of the box and he clipped a perfect cross to the far post where McKee was on hand to volley home.

We could have run riot but found ourselves a little over eager in our attacking play so were foiled time and again by the flag of the linesman. With around ten minutes to half time though we showed a little more patience and grabbed a third. Curtis Woods rampaged up the wing and when he found the byline he looked up to see support arriving late into the box. He checked back and found Ross Wilson at the corner of the box. His cross to the back stick was met by Taylor, who nodded the ball in off the post.

On the verge of half time we made it four when Jackson beat the keeper on the touchline and rolled it across the goal. Taylor had a shot block by a desperate defensive lunge, but the ball broke kindly to Wilson, who knocked in from close range.

The 2^nd half started as the 1^st had finished and around 5 minutes in we had gone nap. Tenacious play by Hewitt saw him win the ball and feed Wilson. He squared to allow Taylor to bag his 2^nd of the game with a far post finish.

With the game dead and buried Pash took the opportunity to introduce three subs as Lynch, Hewitt and Woods were replaced by Dean Overson, Archie Love and Alex Mullin. The game remained one way traffic despite the changes but the goals dried up for a spell. We still had chances with Jackson placing shots wide on either side of the goal and McKee shooting over under challenge.

Entering the final five minutes we rediscovered the scoring touch. McKee was once more the architect as a dink over the back line set Wilson free in the area. He took his time and picked out Jackson to allow the forward to notch his 2^nd of the game. Minutes later Jackson was denied his hat-trick as the Accrington keeper pulled off a blinding reaction save to tip a bullet header onto the bar. The defence cleared the ball out to the wing but a clever Overson shimmy draw the challenge and won us a free kick on the touchline. McKee drifted the ball over and Ed Williams was climbing at the back post to power a header home and end the match 7-0.

Team:- Christian Thewlis, Curtis Woods (Dean Overson), Ed Williams, Tom Anderson, Alex Coleman, Dave Lynch (Archie Love), Steven Hewitt (Alex Mullin), Ross Wilson, Tom Taylor, Joe McKee, Joe Jackson
Subs not used:- Josh Cook, Steven Edwards