AFC Waverton Wasps 3 v 0 Chester Nomads

Duke of Westminster Cup 2nd Round (22 November 2009)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets)

Luke White 1 (2)

Matt Sheen 1 (24)

Sam Jones 1 (13)

MoM Awards;

Coach's - Will Doerr

Supporters' - George Gresty

Match Report 

" At last! - after longing for a "regulation victory" without some of the recent dramas,the coach was not to be disappointed!. Driving rain was the order of the day as the match kicked off with the Wasps re-jigging their formation to cover for the rare absence of Jordan at the back, with Matt Simpson slotting in most effectively, as well as switching Sam Jones and Alex Wilkinson to help beef up the midfield.

A solid performance resulted with a number of early chances being created that forced a series of fine saves from the Nomads keeper and not a hint of a threat from their recently dangerous midfield and strikers.

With the coach just starting to fear another close result and the accompanying emotional highs and lows, deadlock was eventually broken after 30 mins with a fine strike by Luke White from inside the box after the visitors failed to clear a Robbie Foster corner.

A further period of sustained pressure was to follow as Waverton closed out the first half with comfort leaving the half time talk a bit mundane by recent standards!!.

More of the same as the second period kicked off and Matt Sheen soon celebrated his return to full fitness with a trademark finish from 12 yards out on the left and the Wasps were now in full flow with slick passing and strong defence to snuff out the occasional half chance that was created by the Nomads .

As the game entered its last quarter,Will Doerr set off on another of his jinking runs up the left before cutting into the box only to find his legs unceremoniously chopped as we was about to unleash a thunderbolt!  PENALTY!! - up stepped Sam Jones to fire home and complete the scoring and cap a most encouraging performance from all 13 in the squad.

There were many contenders for MOM but the verdict went to Will Doerr (Coach) and George Gresty (Supporters).

Next week ? - Cheshire Cup v unknown entity Ridgewood Rangers from Birkenhead.

Bring it on !!"

AFC Waverton Wasps 4 v 3 Chester Nomads

Chester & District Junior League U13s (15 November 2009)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets);

Sam Jones  2  (12)

Cameron Faulkner  1  (2)

George Gresty  1

MoM Awards;

Coach's: George Gresty

Supporters': Jorge Percival

Match report

Once again the Wasps showed themselves to be a team of two halves (and look at the stats at the bottom of this report which prove it!), but somehow, through sheer willpower, they managed to claw their way back to a 4-3 victory to stay on top of the league table.

At least they started a bit stronger this week, controlling the game well in the first 5/10 minutes and taking a deserved lead when Sam Jones converted his third strike of the season from an "edge of the area" free kick, after being fouled himself just outside the box. After that though the Waverton midfield started to get overrun by a very quick and mobile Nomads team, with the result that the ball kept coming back immediately, virtually every time it was cleared. Inevitably this resulted in goals, and by the break the Wasps had slumped to a 3-1 deficit for the second time in two games, with the only consolation being that they at least had a full half to put it right this week. In truth the scoreline at the break could have been worse were it not for some spirited last ditch defending, with Jorge Percival in particular pulling off one fantastic tackle to prevent what had seemed like another certain goal.

The half time talk expressed the coach's dissatisfaction (again) with a below par first half performance, but pointed to all the come backs the team have made over the last few weeks and asked for another repeat performance. At least in the second half the team would have both the slope and the low sun in their favour, in the way the Nomads had enjoyed before the break.

Once again the Wasps did play much beter in the second half, starting to pass the ball around again and exert presure on their opponents. It was a while though before this dominance resulted in a goal, and the half was nearly 20 minutes old before a Wasps corner was cleared to George Gresty 15 yards out who volleyed it back left footed into the top corner to reduce the deficit to 3-2. The Wasps kept pushing, but with Matt Sheen clearly under the weather from illness, they didn't present their usual level of goal threat, and with ten minutes remaining their first defeat of the season started to look like a distinct possibility. But then, at a crucial time, one of the Nomads clearly handled a Robbie Foster cross, and Waverton's dead ball specialist Sam Jones cooly slotted home the resultant penalty to level the scores.

The team weren't going to settle for a draw though, and with the momentum behind them continued to push for a winner, although when (the ex-Wasp) Luke Williams made a great save from Matt Sheen with a minute to go it looked like becoming the second 3-3 draw between the two teams this season. But amazingly the Wasps "never say die" attitude triumphed yet again, with a great last minute run from Robbie Foster resulting in a cross to the far post where Cameron Faulkner scored the winner with an overhead kick from close range, with literally the last kick of the game.

So, another "get out of jail" performance from the Wasps, to stay on top of the league, but they really could do with recording a comfortable win sooner rather than later. To demonstrate how differently the team is playing in the latter part of their games you just have to look at the goals for/against stats. In the first half of their six league games, so far this season, the Wasps have scored 8 goals, but conceded 12, while in the second half they've scored 18 and, amazingly, only conceded 1, in over three and a half hours of football. Maybe we need a different approach, and should bring the half time talk forward to the start of the game!

Dream Team scores will be updated in the next few days.  

 

Castrol Athletic 3 v 5 AFC Waverton Wasps

After another extraordinary game, the Wasps eventually sealed another victory, by a margin of 5-3, to stay at the top of the Chester & District League. But with only a few minutes remaining they were still trailing 3-1, and only secured victory by demonstrating an amazing determination to keep fighting right up until the end.

It all looked very promising for the first five minutes, with Waverton knocking the ball around nicely and cutting open the Castrol defence 3 or 4 times, only to miss the final chance on each occasion. They were unfortunately made to pay for this, as a breakaway from Castrol, after ten minutes, resulted in their first shot on goal, which then took a wicked deflection off Jordan Coxall to fly past Ollie Tyler. Unbelievably, in a season which has now seen seven victories and one draw, this is the fifth time the Wasps have gone behind. The goal seemed to set the team back on their heels, and worse was to follow, as a fantastic shot from a Castrol striker put his team 2-0 ahead.

Shocked by the scoreline the Waverton team really didn't play well for the remainder of the first half, and in their desperation to get a goal back they ended up hurrying everything and hitting hopeful balls, rather than going back to playing good passing football. Even when they did create chances, either the finishing wasn't up to scratch or the woodwork saved Castrol. As a result Waverton went into the break 2-0 down in a game where they'd had the lions share of the possession. The only consolation to take at half time was that the team must know they could still come back, having done it before!

Waverton pushed hard from the restart and soon had something to show for it. Just as he'd done against Nomads Colts, from a similar situation, Sam Jones hit an unstoppable free kick into the top corner to make it 2-1. From there though it just seemed like the Wasps were not going to get any slice of luck, and despite creating numerous chances most of them (four at least!) just kept rebouding back off the bar or a post. As the frustration grew on the pitch (and amongst the supporters!) Waverton started to commit more and more players forward seeking an equaliser, and as a result the almost inevitable happened, with Castrol scoring a third goal on the break. The Wasps were now 3-1 down with seven minutes to go.

Having defended doggedly though (with a fair degree of time wasting), Castrol almost seemed to relax at this point as if they'd won, and started to give the ball away, and the Waverton team (having not led their heads go down) showed amazing character to start taking advantage of this. Within 3 minutes Matt Sheen had scored two goals to level the scores at 3-3. Suddenly the momentum was with the Wasps, who continued to push forward strongly, and it was Castrol that were starting to look shell shocked. With attacks suddenly coming in from all directions, and defenders who'd been solid all game starting to panic, it was only a couple more minutes before Waverton had taken the lead, with a second goal from Sam Jones and then Matt Sheen completing his hat-trick.

In an amazing turnaround the Wasps had gone from two goals down, to two goals up, with four goals in the space of five minutes! To the very great relief of the team, coach and supporters they then played out the final two minutes to run out winners, something which had looked impossible only a few minutes earlier. Next week it's Chester Nomads, a tougher prospect on paper, and the Wasps really do need to score the first goal! (Dream Team scores updated to include this game). 

Apollo Juniors 1 v 2 AFC Waverton Wasps

Cheshire FA Minor Cup - Round 3 (1 November 2009)

Waverton Scorers;
Robbie Foster 1 (4)
Luke White 1 (1)
(season's total in brackets)

MoM Awards;
Coaches: Matt Simpson
Supporters: Jordan Coxall

Match Report

With no competitive game for three weeks there had to be a chance the Wasps would prove a bit "ring rusty", but instead they put in their best performance of the season (yes better than the win over Boughton!) to win a very competitive, Cheshire Cup 3rd Round, tie 2-1 against a strong and competitive team from the Stockport Metro League.

The match kicked off in extremely blustery conditions, and with rain streaming down. You'd never have guessed it though, with both teams making light of the difficult weather to play some excellent football, and the early exchanges were very much honours even. It was immediately clear that Apollo were a very strong team, and they played at a pace and with a quality of passing that were both well above that which Waverton face week in, week out in the Chester & District League. After Apollo had had the first couple of half chances though it was Waverton who took the lead after 15 minutes. The home team were only able to half clear a swirling ball to the edge of the area, where Robbie Foster calmly controlled it and placed a great shot past the Apollo keeper.

The home team reacted very positively to going a goal down, and continued to push forward with a lot of purpose. Despite some strong defending (all over the pitch) from Waverton, Apollo probably deserved their equaliser after half an hour, with a well placed shot into the top corner which gave Ollie no chance. A few minutes later though he did excellently, to tip away a vicious cross/shot which would otherwise have put Apollo in front. Having weathered the storm (in more ways than one!) the Wasps came back into the game strongly as half time approached, and nicked another goal to go back in front. Another extremely quick break (one of many) from Matt Simpson resulted in a good cross from the right, controlled by Matt Sheen who then gave a simple pass to Luke White who in turn smashed it into the roof of the net. So the Wasps finished their best (and toughest) half of football all season with a 2-1 lead at the interval.

The Coach's half time team talk praised the team for a strong first half performance, but warned the Wasps to expect an even stronger barrage from Apollo in the second half, and that certainly proved to be the case. The second half wasn't pretty, but it was full of commitment and full-blooded (but fair) challenges all over the pitch from both teams. It also seemed to last for ever, as Waverton continued to hold just a slender, and very nervous, one goal lead. The high quality of the Wasps defending though (from all 13 players) really restricted Apollo to no more than half chances in the second period, other than a dangerous free kick from the edge of the box (which sailed over), and an occasion when two of their strikers had escaped and were bearing down on Ollie with an equaliser seeming certain, until Jordan Coxall somehow got back with a fantastic last ditch challenge. In truth Waverton probably had the better quality chances to add to the scoring in the second half, but they didn't put any of them away, and so kept their supporters biting their fingernails right up until the final whistle.

In the end though it stayed 2-1, with a real feeling of satisfaction in beating such good quality opponents. This puts the Wasps into the last 16 of the Cheshire Cup, and we await the draw to see who will stand in the way of a place in the Quarter Finals. (The Wasps Dream Team stats will be updated to include this game over the next couple of days). ==============================================================================