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.
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