Pentwyn Dynamos Under 16s 2013/14

Monday 26th April 2010

Maes y Coed Road

Marlboro Sports Black 4-3 Pentwyn Dynamos
                                                     Willis
                                                                      Fry
                                                                      Prytherch


This was a big game for both sides with both teams well placed to win the league if they won their remaining fixtures. This was a great match from the off - I'm sure any neutrals watching thoroughly enjoyed it (my blood pressure didnt!!!) and both sides created chances early doors.

We started to have the edge and got a well deserved lead when Sam Willis pounced on a bouncing ball in the box and hammered an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

We continued to press but got caught napping at the back and Marlboro equalised with a well taken goal from Jake.

This was prooving to be every bit as tight as I predicited - there were battles all over the park and no-one was giving an inch.

We took the lead when Daniel Gibbins contolled a high ball excellently, held it up with his back to goal and teed up Will Fry who's shot took a bit of a 'bobble' and went into the corner. A nice moment for Will against his former team.  

2-1 at half time and we deserved it - I told the boys to keep playing their passing game and 35 more mins of maximum effort could just be enough to win this one.

We went out and carried on where we left off and it was looking good - Sam Willis was working hard on the right, Charlie Foulkes and Caine Morse were controlling the midfield and the once again impressive Steffan Prytherch was becoming the catalyst for all things good.  Steffan capped a great individual performance by putting us 3-1 up with a great shot from the edge of the box - the wind holding the ball up just enough to drop it under the bar.

We then took our foot off the pedal slightly - possibly due to tiredness and partly thinking we had done enough to win already - and Marlboro really started to pressure us.

It became apparent that the last 20 mins were going to be extremely tough. Marlboro began launching balls over the top for their big centre forward, Aled, to latch onto and this made our defence uncomfortable. Time after time the ball was hit high over the top but our central defenders Ellis Dunsford and Lloyd Richards got a head on it or cleared well.

The inevitable happened and we got caught - a ball over the top evaded keeper Bradley Preece and Aled tapped into an empty net for 2-3.

Minutes later Bradley Preece pulled off a brilliant save, down to his right, to deny Marlboro an equaliser.
Marlboro continued to come at us - they were in charge now - and more uncertainty at the back - failure to clear our lines, saw the ball drop to Nick who shot excellently into the top left hand corner to level it.

We had a chance to regain the lead, when impressive substitute Christopher Viney, burst through and as he swung his boot the ball took a nasty bobble - forcing him to mis-hit his shot wide. 

Queue what I now call the 'Dynamos Panic' - when a team of good footballers forget everything we talked about pre-match and half time - and lose all self belief - allowing the opposition to pen us in and lay seige on our penalty area. This allowed Marlboro to snatch victory with only 10 mins left.

That said, the Marlboro winner was truly magnificent - another long ball found Aled, who shrugged off two defenders, took the ball on the run and lashed a thunderbolt into the top right hand corner.     

In truth, we were unlucky to lose this one, but you cant argue when a team comes back from 1-3 down to win 4-3 and if the roles were reversed I would be over the moon.

Mark's boys did him proud - as did mine - and If we now can't win the league I hope that Marlboro do, they have the great combination of talent, pace and power and can adapt their game better than any other side we have faced this season.

Special Mentions -

The whole team  - Boys you were fantatstic for 75% of the match - 6 games in 12 days (including 5 wins) maybe took its toll towards then end. We just need to believe that little bit more and learn to keep calm under pressure - it's all there, you just need to BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES!!!