Woodbridge Town Under 11s (Sunday) v Whitton Sports Centre (Away)

Sunday 20th January 2008

Half-time 0-1 Full-time 0-6 Goal scorers: Thurlow (2); Church; Dimuccio; Taylor; Tripp Team: Burgoyne: Cooney; Archer; Abdel-Aziz; Wickson; Marshall; Thurlow; Read; Portaluri; Dimuccio; Christie. Subs: Church; Hopkins; Taylor; Tripp. The boys extended their unbeaten run in all competitions this season to eighteen games with a deserved, but hard-fought victory over a much improved Whitton Sports team. Playing on a full-size pitch that had cut up badly after the morning’s matches the boys struggled to impose themselves on the game in the first half and although dominating both possession and territory there was a lack of fluency about our play and when chances were created shots were either rushed or hit from too far out. The boys also failed to make the most of a succession of corners with several headers missing the target. Jack Christie and Marcus Taylor were also getting little joy from the Whitton captain and centre-half, whose pace enabled him to compete and deal with several threatening attacks. The longer the half went on the more confident Whitton became and on a number of occasions the opposition were allowed to counter-attack when our defence didn’t hold a line and play opponents offside. On one occasion goalkeeper Emile Burgoyne made a fine save and on two other occasions both Ashley Archer, who had a very impressive game, and Khaled Abdel-Aziz had to chase back to snuff out the danger. Our best play was tending to come down the left flank and Ewan Wickson, having been played in by Giorgio Dimuccio hit a low shot from just outside the area, which produced a smart save from the opposition keeper. It was, therefore, no surprise that the deadlock was finally broken from this area. The ball found its way to Giorgio, who controlled the ball and jinked by two defenders before drilling the ball into the net. This goal came at an opportune moment just before the half-time whistle. The second half saw a much improved performance with Matty Read dominating the midfield and having his best game since an injury early on in the season. Captain Ben Hopkins came on and Ashley Archer moved to right-back to offer a greater attacking option on the right. Suddenly the game was transformed and the boys began to stretch a tiring Whitton team and Marcus Taylor scored his twenty-sixth of the campaign after good work by Aaron Thurlow and Ashley. This second goal opened up the game and it was not long before Laurence Portaluri played in Aaron, who having contrived to trip over the ball moments earlier when the crowd had anticipated a goal, made amends and took his tally for the season to twenty. Caspar Church having switched to the left flank with Kieron Marshall’s re-introduction, was growing in confidence and it was not long before he scored a wonderful solo effort taking the ball from the half way line and stroking the ball by an advancing goalie. Aaron scored his second after playing a sharp one-two with Sam Tripp, and Sam finished the scoring with a smart goal running on to an excellent pass from Matthew Read. There was still time for other chances to be created with Aaron hitting the side netting and Kieron firing over at the far post. Gus Cooney also returned to the fray to close out the game at right-back and again he put in some strong tackles that kept the pressure on Whitton. The boys would admit that this was not our best performance, particularly in the first half, but this was a game played in difficult conditions and the boys’ fitness shone through as the game progressed. This game was played on a heavy full-sized pitch in very blustery conditions and we should give them credit for the way they constructed this victory to be the first team in the whole of the Ipswich and Suffolk League to register 40 points for the season. Those anoraks amongst us might also be interested to know that the team’s goal difference has now passed the 100 mark and another clean sheet means that the team has conceded on average less than a goal a game for the first time this season. Next week the boys play third-placed Bury Town ‘C’ and they know that they will need to perform at their very best if they are to extend their impressive record for the season. While nothing is ever certain in boys’ football victory next week would move the team 12 points clear of Bury with seven games to play.