Kensington Dragons U13s 5 v 1 Watling club
There was an air of excitement mixed with a slight wisp of tension as the Dragons arrived at St Mark’s for our relegation dogfight with Watling, to add to the Drama, Watling arrived late and the ref didn’t arrive at all (thanks go to the DOF for stepping in at the last minute to ref the game). The Dragons were out of the blocks quickly, taking control of the early stages of the game. Pinning Watling in their own half and this pressure told and we took the lead as our right midfielder received the ball just inside the penalty area and proceeded to unleash an unstoppable rocket of a shot which flow into the net.
This prompted an immediate substitution by Watling who brought on their late arriving star striker, who had proved our nemesis in previous encounters with Watling, he immediately made his presence known as he seized on a defensive slip and drove into the box and despite pressure from our covering centre half slotted home the equaliser. The Dragons wobbled and again their striker unleashed another shot from the edge of the box but this was saved but created backspin on the ball which had the ball heading into our net, our keeper recovered to stop the ball on the line. The Dragons composed themselves and the rest of the half was even.
The coaches gave a crucial half time talk where tactics were amended and the players were sent out for the second half. The first ten minutes were a battle with both sides trying to gain an advantage. The Dragons midfield then begun to take control of the game and were given more time on the ball as Watling tired and our tactics of rotating our subs in the first half start to pay dividends . Our wide players started marauding down both flanks and this stretched the Watling defence. This was exploited firstly by our central midfielder who played a killer pass that found our striker in behind the defence with a well-timed run and finish to give us the lead.
The Dragons extended their lead with a similar goal this time a pass from our left back whose pass split the defence and found our other striker who added to his tally of goals since converting from centre half with a calm finish. The Dragons defence were standing firm against the few Watling attacks. Our fourth goal was scored by our centre half heading into the roof of the net from close range following a good cross. The icing on the cake was delivered by our last substitution of the game who found himself clear in the penalty area with only the keeper to beat and with virtually his first touch he coolly slipped past the keeper and planted the ball into the empty net to cap a great performance from the team.