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Freeflow suffered their first defeat at the hands of league leaders and holders Warriors. This was Freeflow's first home game of the season and it proved be a bad day but also an experience the players can learn from.
Warriors played the typical grass roots English game but with an added physical presence which proved to be Freeflow's undoing as it would be a new but in the end a much needed experience.
Freeflow started the game brightly and created chances early on in the game with Kamel racing through from Jag's vision but to only strike his shot straight at the goalie. This seemed to set the theme for Freeflow who created the vast majority of the clear cut chances but failed to produce killer instinct.
In midfiled Jaspreet led by example to match the opposition physically and was backed up by Rajvir who battled well but also showed creativity and linked well with Jag. The away side did have their moments with the long ball in behind Freeflow's defense but Arjun held firm on a number of occasions to cut long balls out and to make recovery challenges. Warriors did have their chances though from moments of scrappy play but Yigit on two occacions at full stretch in goal denied the away side.
Desipite Freeflow trying to play the better football Warriors struck first. Another long ball, on this occasion however that got in behind Freeflow's right back Drayton and the left sided player for Warriors raced clear to strike his shot well across Yigit, 1:0.
Straight after the goal Freeflow responded well and dominated possession and produced a penetrating performance which lacked clever movement in the last third and far to often produced a poor final pass or shot. Warriors at the other end had been quiet but added the second goal against the run of play. A corner kick from the right was looped in at the near post and Freeflow failed to attack the ball, 2:0. Freeflow though continued to attack and Kamel slid Manvir through with a bobbling pass and Manvir used the bounce of the ball to delightfully lift the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper and into the corner of the net, 2:1 and a clinical finish at last.
Freeflow changed the system for the second half and from the kick-off Freeflow created a couple of chances but again struck the ball straight at the keeper. Warriors with the wind in their favour produced a better second half-performance than their first but they also defended with more brutality, with late tackles, cynical play and countless off the ball incidents both verbally and physically. This was very much a new experience for some of the Freeflow players and seemed to rattle them as they felt unjust fully treated by the synical play which often led to no free-kicks or penalties.
The match started to turn ugly with confrontations between players and this suited Warriors who were now dominating Freeflow. When Freeflow did move the ball into attacking areas they proved to be static and as a result made it easy for the opposition to defend. Warriors tested Yigit in the second half and from two of the resulting corners with the aid of the wind they added two more goals. Again Freeflow could and should have defended the corners better.
The scoreline reflected a comfortable victory, but in truth 4:1 was a flatterring result. Freeflow played the better football and created the better chances in open play but at the same time Freeflow did not control the whole game and lacked movement and lacked ruthlessness. There were many incidents in the game which were not football or skill related which was unfortunate and unjust however this can only serve as a vital learning experience for the Freeflow U15 players and gear them up to bounce back as the league title is still in their grasp based on the their attacking creative style.
SQUAD: YIGIT, ARJUN, AMARDEEP, HARJEET, DRAYTON, AMANDEEP, JASPREET, KAMEL, RAJ, JAG, AHMED, ALBERT, MANVIR, LIAM, JAY. 2 Changes made to the previous squad.
GOALS: Manvir 1.
The Academy would like to thank Arjun's Father, Amandeep's Father, Harjeet's Sister and Liam's family, Manvir's family Albert's Brother, Rajvir's Father and Jaspreets family for your support during the game.
U15 LEAGUE STATISTICS click here |
