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AC Hoylake Comets – Under 10 – Match Report

17th September, vs West Kirby Wasps Black, played at Acres Road

Result AC Hoylake 2 – Wasps 1

Players: Harry Watt, Austin, Joshua, Jack, Ethan, Maddison, Jake, Dominic, Alex

First home match of the season for the Comets on a day when we enjoyed sunshine and also endured monsoon conditions at Acres Road, we played our first ‘derby’ of the season against Wasps, and welcomed back Maddison from injury. The team started well playing against the wind and were soon creating chances with Alex and Dominic running the Wasps defence ragged, ably supported by Jake and Ethan. We could have easily been two up in the first 10 minutes if it wasn’t for some resolute work by the Wasps keeper. Wasps had a couple of forays into our box but these were cut out by the returning Maddison, Jack, and also some astute defending by Joshua. The match was going well, it seemed to be too good – the interchange between midfield and attack was at times scintillating, however our good play and possesion meant nothing when we fell behind to what most felt was a dubious goal after 12 minutes. Wasps attacked down the left and reached the by-line (the general view was they actually went over the by-line by a couple of feet), all our boys stopped playing and expected the ref to give a goal kick – this decision didn’t materialise and play continued the ball was crossed and deflected into the goal – morale of this ‘always play to the whistle’. We were 1-0 down and the boys felt aggrieved, however they didn’t let their heads drop and continued to attack and play great football, and this attitude was rewarded after 15 minutes with Ethan firing in from 8 yards, the move started from defence with Austin collecting the ball under pressure and calmly passing to Jake, who then fed Dominic for him to surge forward and lay the ball to Ethan for him to fire in the goal. Halftime 1-1.

We kicked off the second half with the same desire and commitment that we ended the first half with, we had what seemed like wave after wave of attack, and as in the first half it was only inspired keeping from Wasps that prevented us from scoring on a number of occasions. So much was our dominance that Wasps only had one chance on goal in the second half – a strong shot from outside the area which was excellently tipped onto the bar by Harry who then scrambled to collect the rebound on the line. It seemed like every outfield player fancied their chances in front of goal today and had at least one shot on goal during this period, including a glancing header from Alex and another powerful header from Jack but not one of them hit the net and it started to feel like it wasn’t going to be our day. On the 18th  minute our frustration turned to celebration when minute when Maddison fired a low shot hard into the bottom corner of the goal. This sparked wild celebrations both on and off the pitch (Mark B especially J), and our goal celebrations were accompanied by a deluge of rain that wouldn’t have been out of place in a tropical storm, but this didn’t dampen our spirits. We then had to hold our nerve for the last couple of minutes as Wasps threw all their players forward in an attempt to salvage a draw, but  the boys continued to close down Wasps with Jake, Jack and Ethan being particularly effective in midfield not letting Wasps rest for a minute. The ref blew up on 20 minutes and we could at last enjoy a well deserved result and anything less than a win would have been a travesty.

A big thankyou to Mark B who helped us take down the goals during the monsoon.

MOM – Ethan

Goals – Ethan, Maddison