Stalybridge Celtic Juniors Blues 1 – 0 Failsworth Villa 14th Jan 2012

14th January 2012

Stalybridge Celtic Juniors Blues 1 – 0 Failsworth Villa by Andy Walker...

Goal: Josh
MoM: Jack


As ever, the match kicked off a good half an hour late; it would actually be more newsworthy if it kicked off on time but I mention this as the extra time Chris had with the team beforehand paid obvious dividends once the match got underway.

It has become apparent that whilst the team has talent in abundance they have often all been guilty of being somewhat reluctant to actually try to pass to each other when a slalom through three opposition players is an alternative. The penny finally seemed to drop today and the passing was a massive improvement (I suspect the promise of a giant bar of chocolate for the best passing helped in that respect).

The Blues, who were without Matthew, came out of the traps like a steam train with great tackles from Joe and Fin leading to a couple of chances early on with CJ being particularly unlucky with one shot. Joe performed an outrageous drag-back and turn that Ronaldo would have been proud of under pressure wide on the left before the ball broke free for Jack to fire just wide.

Jacob ably assisted by his new defensive partner Fin demonstrated a great awareness to snuff out any potential attacks from the Failsworth forwards and both played excellent through-balls from deep in their own half to set up good breaks.

Holly replaced Fin midway through the first half and, as is her trademark, let the opposition know she was there with some thunderous tackling.

Jack took on a couple of defenders before laying on a great cross across the box that just needed a touch. Celtic were dominant winning several corners but they just couldn’t break the deadlock in the first half which somehow ended goalless.

At half time the very impressive CJ made way for Josh who joined Jack in attack with Joe dropping deeper into midfield.

Knowing Josh would stay right up front, Jack started drifting deeper to pick up the ball to great effect. One strong run ended in him being fouled just inside the Failsworth half. Jack took the free kick himself unleashing a thunderbolt that was bravely blocked by a defender using a part of his anatomy that made MY eyes water let alone his.

Jacob won the ball in midfield from a goalkeepers kick and released Josh on the left. His snapshot was well parried by the keeper back into Josh’s path but off balance he could only put the rebound wide from a tight angle.

The few times that Failsworth broke into Celtic’s half, the covering by Jack, Joe, Jacob and Holly was first class and meant that Thomas was rarely called into action but his distribution from his goal kicks was very good, finding a team-mate in space on each occasion.

Josh had two good efforts in quick succession that were well saved and it looked like his pre-match prediction that he would get on the score-sheet would end in disappointment but he wasn’t going to give up that easily. Jack picked up the loose ball following a great tackle by Joe and struck a shot from distance that the keeper did well to push away. Josh has seen this all before and followed in knowing that Jack’s right foot is like an Exocet Missile and he calmly slotted the rebound past the stranded keeper with his left foot for a great !GOAL! to make it 1:0.

The next five minutes were a joy to watch as the Blues put together a series of passing moves high up the pitch that left the opposition chasing shadows. Excellent movement and vision tore them apart time and again. The move of the game saw Jacob find Joe in acres of space and his pinpoint cross found Josh on the back post whose tremendous shot on the turn was well saved by the keeper.

CJ and Fin replaced Jacob and Joe and they continued the fine work, with great passing and joining Holly in winning all the tackles they went in for.

Failsworth had a final throw of the dice to snatch an unlikely equaliser but they didn’t trouble Thomas with two late shots.

The 1:0 Full Time scoreline didn’t really show the dominance Celtic enjoyed. It was an excellent performance and the team spirit shone through yet again.

Jack picked up the Man of the Match for a tireless display where he not only demonstrated his threat up front but also saw him heading the ball away deep in his own area but the truth is the award could have gone to any number of players without argument.

Joe’s excellent passing saw him collect the huge bar of chocolate that Chris seemingly saw as one bar too far from his Xmas stash.

Andy