Princes Villa 1 v 3 AFC Waverton Wasps

Chester & District League (26^th February 2012)

Waverton Scorers (season’s total in brackets)

Aaron Hassall  -  2 (13)

Charlie Jones  -  1 (12)

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Waverton took another step nearer retaining their title, with a 3-1 win over Princes Villa in a bad tempered game, but once again the team were far from their best, and will certainly need to “up their game” before taking on Upton in the Cup next week.

The game kicked off in good sunny conditions on a big wide pitch that should have suited Waverton’s passing game. Despite dominating the early possession though, the team continued to struggle to put together their normal quality of football, and the game remained goalless until Aaron Hassall struck a good free kick half way through the half which went in under the keeper (who’d have expected to do better) to put Waverton 1-0 ahead.

With the amount of possession they had, Waverton should have been 3 or 4 ahead, but too often players took on too much themselves and even when chances were created they were wasted, continuing a trend the team have been showing for some weeks now. Games against Princes Villa are always “niggly”, but with 10 minutes to go before half time one of the Waverton players lost their discipline in retaliating, resulting in the team’s first ever sending off.

When Princes Villa then equalised, with a scrambled goal from a corner, it looked like Waverton may be made to pay for going down to ten men, onlyfor them to be saved by a Princes Villa team who themselves lost their cool and had two players sent off. It was disappointing though that the Waverton team didn’t learn from this, and also picked up a further three bookings for avoidable offences later in the game. This lack of discipline is something the team need to sort out, quickly!

In a second half with ten men (Waverton) versus nine (Princes Villa), there was even more room to be had on the big pitch, but the fact that Waverton could only add two more goals, from Aaron & Charlie Jones, showed that there were still not at their best, and really couldn’t string together the high quality passing football we know they’re capable of. The one area that remained calm and controlled though was the defence, where Jorge Percival, Charlie Nicholson & Jordan Coxall all had strong games, as acknowledged by the supporters who voted them joint MoM.

This wasn’t a good warm up for Upton next week, but hopefully it was a wake up call!    

AFC Waverton Wasps 2 v 3 Ridgewood Rangers

Cheshire Junior Cup (12^th February 2012)

Waverton Scorers (season’s total in brackets)

Matt Sheen  -  2 (22)

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Despite a brave effort, Waverton fell just short of reaching their second consecutive Cheshire Cup final, losing out 3-2 to a Ridgewood team who played better in the parts of the pitch that matter, and were more clinical finishing their chances. Waverton couldn’t make their greater possession count, and will now need to concentrate on retaining their Chester & District League & Cup double.

Waverton started the better of the two teams, despite kicking uphill, and had a couple of very good chances early on to take the lead against a Ridgewood defence that looked shaky, but the home team didn’t put either of them away. It was clear from the early exchanges that Ridgewood’s tactics were going to be to soak up the pressure and break quickly, and it was just this approach which led to a breakaway goal after 15 minutes, allowing them to take the lead against the run of play. The Wasps have kept their heads well when falling behind in earlier rounds, and did so again, keeping the pressure on until a loose ball fell to Matt Sheen to strike an equaliser. For the next ten minutes Waverton dominated, but again didn’t take any of the chances they created to get into the lead.

With ten minutes to go in the first half Ridgewood regained the advantage, after hesitation in the Waverton defence, allowing a long throw to bounce and letting a forward in to head home from close range. Once again though Waverton “upped a gear” after falling behind, and created a long period of pressure. After good work from Raynor Gray on the right, followed by a good cross, a Robbie Foster shot was blocked but fell to Matt Sheen to slot home his second equaliser.

2-2 at the break, it was anybody’s game in the second half. In the sticky, tiring conditions though there was much less goalmouth action in the second period (at both ends). Waverton never really got their passing football together, and Ridgewood started to dominate the midfield, particularly through their two strongest players, one sitting just in front of the defence and mopping everything up and the other playing just behind the strikers, continually finding the room to use his pace and skill. Halfway through the half, it was the latter player who again ran on to a through ball slotting the ball past Jack and into the corner of the net to put Ridgewood in front for the third time.

Waverton pushed hard in the last 20 minutes to get another equaliser, but couldn’t find the right quality of final ball. Their team spirit didn’t waver though, and for the final 5/10 minutes they played some strong pressing football, but once again they just couldn’t take advantage of any of the half chances created.

It’s always disappointing to go out of a big cup competition at the semi-final stage, but once again Waverton have proved themselves to be one of the best U15’s teams in the County, and (hard as it is!) they should look back and be proud of their efforts.

Coach’s MoM: Matt Sheen