| Match Report |
U8 Royals v Allestree Dortmund: a tough game played out in unexpectedly blustery conditions today. The strong winds caused problems for everyone, and none more so than our manager Andy Coope who faced an early sprint along the touchline to retrieve his £20 note for subs - the parents had never seen him move so fast!! wink emoticon
Ripley started the game facing into the hearty wind. A rolling kick-off today as the ball wouldn't stay still, led to an early shot from James Shaw. An Adam Taylor power shot sailed through the air and looped backwards, to be picked up by James who opened the scoring. Ripley coped fairly well with the facing wind, with plenty of upfront passes between the outfield players and lots of goalmouth action. Allestree, with the wind in their favour, capitalised with a lovely angled shot from the right. Their next chance came when Adam lost the ball against 3 attackers to leave Allestree with a one-on-one against first half keeper Louis Horne, who made a resounding block with his legs to clear the danger. Their pressure continued with a defensive scramble which saw the ball blow over our goalline. A goal kick down the left wing led to James being able to megs the Allestree keeper, and late shots came from James off the post and Alfie Crompton bursting through with a shot that went just wide.
The wind kept up for the second half with Ripley shooting with it this time, however it was slightly cross field and took away an early long range shot by Louis from a corner. There were 2 goals from corners during the second half helped in by the wind, one of which from Harrison Walker went directly in without the keeper's touch. Allestree struggled with the wind and second half keeper Liam Smith had little to do, however the Allestree keeper was brave and confident and blocked a number of chances from Ripley players. The last action of the game saw Ripley win a free kick just on the corner of the box. Harrison stepped up knowing it needed a powerful shot into the wind. However, the ref marshalled the Allestree wall into position and with a 3 man wall in his way, Harrison wisely feinted to shoot but instead passed level to the waiting Joshua Coope who buried it into an open net. A gritty performance after last week's break, well done boys. A fine, determined performance from Harrison today trying to make it two MOTM in two days after his Saturday match yesterday, however the virtual MOTM trophy today went to Louis for his sound first half in the net, and more competent positional play outfield in the second half
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