If anyone wanted to know what kid’s football should be all about, then watching our highly entertaining game against Shrivenham and Watchfield today would have given all the answers. It was played between 2 teams who both wanted to play good football, it had lots of goals, some great tackling and every player came off the pitch with a smile on their face.
S & W are a physically strong team which makes a massive difference at this age and unfortunately for us we were 3-nil down before we knew what was happening, which left us with a real mountain to climb. But all credit to our players who kept battling, passing and trying their individual skills which eventually brought us back into the game.
Overall I was pleased with our performance yet again, although we did start off very slowly and our recent 4 week break has clearly effected us. But we showed some good touches and I saw signs that the players had taken in a few of the things we’ve worked on in training this week.
I was however slightly disappointed with having to play 6 a side due to lack of players on the away team. I feel that although fewer players on the pitch should mean more space, it actually forces players to guard the centre of midfield more resulting in very little width. This was evident right from the start with both teams never really managing to get the ball out wide and I feel this is a very negative way for kids of this age to play. They should be encouraged to stretch the play wide and long at every opportunity getting them into good habits which will help them to become good players in the future. Although after saying this, the 6 a side game we played today may not have produced the flowing football we’ve been used to playing of late, but it did continue to educate our players as to the style that some teams may want to adopt and we need to be able to adapt our game to all styles, so today’s game was very worthwhile and taught us how to cope with teams who like to play through the middle. I’m also a strong believer that you learn more about yourselves when you’re put under pressure than when the games are easy, so today will definitely go down as a positive experience for all of us.
Final score: ESCFC 4 v Shrivenham & Watchfield 5