Kensington Dragons U14A 3 v 2 NW Rangers
We knew we had to raise our game for our clash against the league leaders and the players responded to the challenge producing a dominating first half display. From a game played earlier in the season Dean the coach had identified Rangers star player a 6ft 2 inch midfield player and decided to stick a man marker on him, Dean Jr and Josh were assigned this task and for the vast majority of the match were successful in keeping him subdued as we camped ourselves in the Rangers half. Moving the ball efficiently through the midfield and creating a number of chances, one such move put Bailey through and he finished clinically. Josh then made a great run through several defenders but could not beat their keeper. The only negative from the half was the narrow 1-0 lead we took into the break.
The second half we continued to dominate the early stages and this time we were rewarded with an early goal as Michael lashed a volley into the net. A 3rd followed again Dean had instructed the team at corners to either take it short or if that was covered to cross the ball to the far post and this worked like a dream as NW Rangers covered the short option so we hit the long corner and the perfect cross found Pablo unmarked at the far post who placed his header into the net.
NW Rangers reacted to this and came back with a deflected free kick getting them a foothold back in the game and then further eroded our lead with a second. A nervous final 20 minutes ensued but Ranger could not breach our defence for a 3rd time. A Special mention here to our centre half pairing of Noah and Danny who throughout the game / season have developed a great partnership with Noah’s tackling and strength and Danny’s reading and positional sense. They stood firm even as Rangers’ star player moved to the front line and we saw out the final minutes with ease.