U15A take top spot in thriller away to The Heath

March 8th 2015

Harrow Youth League Division 3

The Heath 2 Vs 3 Kensington Dragons U15A

Scorers:  Korey, Dean & Pablo

MOM Armand

Basically the divisional title was on the line with 1st placed Heath who were 1 point ahead of the Dragons but we had 2 games in hand. We knew if we could avoid defeat we would keep our fate in our own hands. But we wanted to put down a marker and win as The Heath’s previous defeats had been through admin errors and this was actually a re-arranged fixture as previously the Ref and the Dragons had turned up at the venue as stated on the fixture info but The Heath had gone to another venue.

Team wise we were pretty much at full strength and had a full match day squad of 16 with Armand making his debut after impressing during training as both teams warmed up you could feel the tension rise. The game started cautiously with both teams probing the other but without wanting to concede an early goal. After 15 mins the Dragons gained the upper hand as Dean lashed a shot across the box which the Heath’s goalkeeper fumbled right into the path of the predatory Korey who passed the ball into the empty net. This rocked The Heath who were finding it hard to make headway through our midfield as Joel and Armand who were shielding our back four and when they did break through Danny, Filmon at centre half along with fullbacks Magnus and Ilyas snuffed out any danger.

The Dragons went further ahead on 30 mins as a great move down our right side of midfield lead to Bailey crossing a great ball into the path of Dean who hit the ball first time past the helpless Heath keeper. The Heath coach reacted and brought on an attacking sub and this replacement player would have a telling effect on the outcome of the match. With his pace he started causing us problems and created a couple of chances before he pulled a goal back in the last few mins of the half. Ironically the ref had played 45 min instead of the league rule of 40 mins for an U15 match.

Buoyed by their goal and coach’s team talk The Heath started the second half on the front foot and put us under early pressure although we still looked dangerous on the counter attack. However The Heath equalised through their sub and we could have been behind after a dubious penalty award as one of their midfielders was supposedly brought down in the area. The sub stepped up to take the penalty but a good save from Zak in our goal kept the scores level. This galvanised the Dragons to up their efforts and we saw out this period of pressure and began to press forward creating a couple of chances. We regained the lead from a corner as Pablo produced a piece of magic from a corner as he flicked the ball with his right foot passed their keeper.

The Dragons then frustrated The Heath so much that their sub went high on Alberto and the ref sent him of for dangerous play Alberto had to be subbed. The Dragons needed to see out the last 15 mins and with our front players Korey, Bailey, Dean, Ali and Emmanual all tirelessly working to close down The Heath when they had possession at the back. With Noah and Daniel who had come on to re-enforce our Midfield we held out to put us within one victory of clinching the Division.