Mile Oak Wanderers vs Newhaven U14 Yellow

vs
14 December 2014
Score: 5 - 0

Match Report

Mile Oak Wanderers v Newhaven FC Yellow
Southwick: 14 December 2014. Kick off 10.00.

This week away to Mile Oak Wanderers; the return match against the first team to beat us in the league this season.

Newhaven have the luxury of having 3 goalkeepers in their squad…unfortunately none were available this week. Nathan Lock steps forward to take the place between the sticks this week.

Newhaven kick off and for the first part of the half it is a tight close game. Liam Baker has several shots and Tommy Linger is playing well in his left back position. Eziam Dimas is putting in his normal performance at the heart of the Newhaven defence. Callum Goodale gets back to make a goal line clearance when Mile Oak try to walk the ball into the net after the Newhaven defence have made it hard for them to get a clear shot away. Nathan puts in a good performance in goal and I counted 8 saves/ important clearances that he made to keep his side in the game, including a double save that David de Gea would have been proud of later in the day against Liverpool.

However the need for Nathan to make 8 saves highlights the problem the team has had in the past six weeks. There is no defensive protection from the midfield, a problem that has been a common theme in several of my recent reports. When the team was playing with a disciplined defensive midfielder this team looked like it was going to be challenging for the top of the table at the end of the season and jokes were made when our goalkeeper only “got his knees dirty once a half” as the opposition rarely got close enough our goal to have a serious shot on target. Unfortunately in the last 5 matches we have been conceding goals because the opposition have run straight through our midfield towards our goal and today is no different. Eventually Nathan’s luck runs out; first his inexperience in goal allows a Mile Oak attacker an easy shot into the corner from in front of goal (1-0) and then he gets unlucky with a header from a Mile Oak corner (2-0). The half ends 2-0 but Nathan is unlucky to be behind, his performance has not deserved it. For 20-25 minutes this had been a close tight match, but eventually the sheer weight of chances that Mile Oak were allowed was decisive.

Mile Oak kick off the second half. Eziam has taken Nathan’s place in goal for the start of the second half. Eziam does not have Nathan’s luck and his inexperience in goal is quickly exploited by Mile Oak who score 2 fairly soft goals in quick succession (4-0). Liam continues to battle for every ball. His work rate deserves a goal but it is not going to be his day today. Mile Oak have an organised defence with a defensive midfielder patrolling in front of them and we can find no way through. Mile Oak score another goal to make it 5-0, they are finding it very easy today against a midfield that by now is standing watching them. In truth Mile Oak could and should have scored more today. No blame for today’s result can be levied at Nathan or Eziam, Nathan especially put in a decent performance in goal.

The man of the match award this week went to James Neighbour for his performance in defence. He was one of the few player today who didn’t let the score line get to him and kept running and fighting to the end of the match.