Pentwyn Dynamos Under 16s 2013/14

Saturday October 24th 2009

Parc Coed-y-Nant

Pentwyn Dynamos  1 - 4  St Albans
Gibbins

A close game that could have gone either way right up until the last 20 mins. A difficult start before a ball was kicked as although 95% of the pitch was in excellent condition, there was a small section in the far penalty area with heavy surface water causing concern. A big thank you to the parents who worked so hard with buckets, brushes, garden forks and anything else we could find of use!

We started the first half in fine form and controlled the early exchanges and if it wasnt for a couple of borderline offside decisions, could have taken the lead. As the half progressed Charlie Foulkes and Sam Willis were battling in the midfield, holding their own, Daniel Gibbins and Daniel Swabey were working hard up front. At the back Bradley Preece was rarely troubled and when called upon was always in charge,Lloyd Richards was putting in another excellent performance at Centre back and Callum Patten was everywhere. St Albans came more into it and the game became more equal and half time saw the score still 0-0 - only the second time this season that we havent scored in the first half.

We started the second half as we finished the first and kept up the pressure. This was to pay dividends as a Caine Morse corner - inswinging from the left - skimmed off the challenging defenders heads under pressure from Sam Willis, the ball dropped to Daniel Gibbins and he flicked it over the line with his heel. 1-0 and we were looking pretty good. Then came a corner for St Albans, we failed to mark our men and allowed their player to ghost in and make it 1-1. The last 20 mins were a different game as St Albans took the initiative and piled on the pressure - within 5 mins it was 2-1 and heads went down. At 2-1 down we did have a period of pressure - sadly though a box scramble ended in their clearing the ball.

Set pieces were to prove our undoing and another corner was poorly defended and the resulting ball back in was headed in at the far post for 3-1.

St Albans were good for their win but the fourth goal was very debatable as their wide man took the ball down the right to the byline the ball crossed the line, the ref didnt call it and they scored from the cross following the confusion - our own fault really as we should have played to the whistle.

A few special mentions from today -

Great to see Josh Harvey make his comeback following 6 matches out with injury. 
Callum Patten was once again excellent - well done CB!
Lloyd Richards nearly faultless at centre back.

Luck wasnt with us today - but we will keep improving.