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Below
are two match reports that are from teams that WSC teams played on their
UK Tour.
Sat
9th April 2004 Friendly vs. Williamsburg Soccer Club U13 Boys, 2-1 win.
This
report was taken off of their website at http://www.whitegrove.com/03_04/U12/UnitedOther.htm.
There are also on this website some additional pictures of the game
and a couple short videos of parts of the game.
Bradfield
College provided a quintessentially English setting for this international
fixture between a Whitegrove U12s invitation team and Williamsburg’s U13
team. In contrast to the location the weather was obligingly atypical for
a Bank Holiday and the vernal sun bathed the appreciative supporters from
both sides in its warm glow. In keeping with the location the pitch far
exceeded anything any of the boys had played on this season. They even had
grass in the goal mouths!
Just
comparing the two sides go through their pre match preparations was a
complete contrast. WSC had their boys executing carefully constructed
drills without using any balls contrary to that expressed by leading
coaches in the UK. Whitegrove XI's was a ragged attempt to get the hastily
assembled side to learn each others names before kick off but I think the
boys were too hyped to concentrate on anything much the coach was saying
and kick off couldn't come quick enough.
Game
plan? Well it was a friendly so fun and enjoyment first and foremost.
However conscious that it was warm and that we were playing a side 1 year
older than us over 3 x 25 minute periods the boys were firmly reminded to
concentrate on passing the ball quickly and accurately and not to get
dragged into a physical slog which we would surely lose.
The
Whitegrove XI began their second ever 11 a side game cautiously, wisely
weighing up the unknown opposition before committing themselves. A large
WSC No 4 at the back gave our forwards a very tough time and used some
considerable skills to bring the ball out of defence. Thank goodness he
didn't seem to be willing to venture into the attacking third. Another
quick and skilful lad to watch out for was on the left side of midfield,
Whitegrove quickly nicknamed him Edgar on account of the protective
goggles he was wearing. Surely one of their most useful weapons was the
goalkeeper who possessed the ability to launch the ball fully 2/3 of the
pitch and give our defence a torrid time with the bounce.
It
was quickly obvious that despite the age gap both sides were evenly
matched and that parity remained throughout the three periods. Whitegrove
settled quickly and passed the ball about very well as though they had all
been playing together the entire season instead of a few minutes.
Gradually the shouts of "Oi, you!" and "Over here!"
were replaced with real names as they were learned.
Whitegrove
looked the more threatening in attack and certainly throughout the 75
minutes managed to work more balls into the danger area. Sure enough after
16 minutes Charlie Gaskin finished off a good move to open the scoring.
Just a few seconds later Robert Wellington almost doubled the score after
Daniel Drew sent a perfect cross in from the right but his headed attempt
went over the bar. Back at the other end Samuel Hirst, Joe Jones, Alex
Carr, and Grant Bursill look assured at the back of our 4-4-2 formation
and their high defensive line worked most of the time with Matt Jeffery
mopping up at the rear. In the middle Josh Casey and Mark McLaughlan
battled away in their indefatigable manner and were joined on the right of
midfield by Tom McFaul.
Into
the second period and the remaining goals. Substitutions worked well as we
tried to ensure all the children had a good run out on the pitch. Back in
defence Rory McMahon came on and slotted in well for Joe Jones. Josh
Phillips certainly livened things up on the right and caused WSC all sorts
of problems. It was Mark McLaughlan's superb cross ball to Phillips that
led to our second goal when Josh turned back inside his defender and his
cross to the back post found Charlie Gaskin who promptly made it 2-0 after
46 minutes. WSC scored their consolation goal just 4 minutes later when
their goalkeeper caught out our defence with one of his trademark fly
kicks. WSC's forward timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and
lob the out rushing Matt Jeffery.
For the final 25 minute period the game resorted back to cat and mouse.
WSC pushed hard for an equaliser from a tiring Whitegrove side but great
defending led by Alex Carr and Samuel Hirst amongst others, plus a little
bit of luck stopped that.
A
thoroughly enjoyable match against a very friendly opposition in perfect
surroundings. I hope all the players and parents enjoyed the game as much
as I did and thank you to all those players that came along from elsewhere
and made it a real TEAM effort. At the end the boys mingled to exchange
gifts of Easter eggs and a signed Portugal 2004 match ball from us with
cloth patches, T shirts, and dollar bills from WSC before a combined team
photo.
Reading
Girls U13 4 v
1 Williamsburg U14
This
report was e-mailed to the Reading Newspaper and forwarded to WSC.
Reading played their first 11-a-side match of the season against
Williamsburg SC, a team on tour from Virginia, USA at Bradfield College.
The match was played in excellent spirit and considerable skill by both
teams.
The first third was evenly matched with Reading going close early on,
before Williamsburg came back strongly and nearly scored on a couple of
occasions.
The second third saw Reading finding their feet on the big pitch and a
fine through pass from Katie Allen was well finished by Emma-Jayne
Pearmine to give them a 1-0 lead.
This only served to spur the visitors on and they came back strongly and
deservedly equalised from a corner. At 1-1 with only 10 minutes to go
Reading seemed to grow stronger and Williamsburg understandably tired,
after only arriving late the previous afternoon from their long journey.
Reading added a second and third in quick succession, through Rachel
Panting and Sarah Beale, and with virtually the last kick of the game
Rachel added a fourth to give Reading a 4-1 victory.
However it was definitely an enjoyable match with Reading having one of
their hardest matches of the season and look forward to a return in the
future.
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