Woodbridge Town Under 11s (Sunday) v Bohemians

Sunday 10th February 2008

OPEN CUP –QUARTER FINAL Half-time: 1-1 Full-Time: Lost 1-5 Scorers: Portaluri Team: Joe Elsom; Jack Christie; Ben Hopkins; Miles Kekwick; Harry Hayward; Sam Tripp; Matthew Read; Caspar Church; Laurence Portaluri; Ashley Paternoster. Subs: Kieron Marshall. The Under 11 Sunday side lost for the first time this season in a hard fought, physical quarter-final against last season’s beaten finalists, Bohemians from Gorleston. The boys knew this was always going to be a tough encounter against a team that has been dominating its own league and the loss of centre-back Khaled Abdel-Aziz and defenders Ewan Wickson and Gus Cooney meant that leading goal scorer Jack Christie was asked to deputise at centre-half. Bohemians began well and with the Woodbridge defence struggling to settle and play an effective line, it was no surprise when Bohemians took the lead, albeit somewhat fortuitously. Joe Elsom had already been called on to make one crucial save, but he was left exposed and when an opposition forward was not called offside, he placed his shot into the corner of the net. However rather than capitulate this began a passage of play where Woodbridge began to pass the ball and create some half-chances. A tactical change saw the team revert to 4-4-2 with Laurence Portaluri moving up front to support Ashley Paternoster, who had prior to this been left rather isolated. Sam Tripp and Matthew Read began to win tackles in what was becoming a very feisty midfield battle and Jack Christie was becoming the dominant defender in the game, winning several headers during this stage of the match. It was, therefore, no more than the team deserved when Laurence scored one of his trademark free-kicks just before the half-time interval after Sam Tripp had been felled on the edge of the penalty area. A momentum was beginning to build and suddenly there seemed a belief that we could get something from the game. At half-time Ashley Paternoster limped off after being the victim of two particularly heavy challenges and this saw Harry Hayward move upfront with Kieron Marshall taking Harry’s place on the right of midfield. The half began well and the Woodbridge team was passing the ball well and despite kicking up hill had the territorial advantage, but with Jack at the back the team lacked something of its usual cutting edge. However the opposition manager was becoming concerned and felt that his team were being outplayed at this stage of the game and Laurence was unlucky not to get his shot on target from Kieron’s through ball. However somewhat against the run of play Bohemians took advantage of a mistake at the back when Miles Kekwick kicked the ball against Ben Hopkins and the rebound fell to an opponent, who drilled his shot across Joe Elsom, who was by now struggling with a hand injury, sustained when he had reacted to a break away by the opposition centre-forward. Even though the boys had fallen behind a number of corners created some panic in the opposition area, but when Caspar Church gave away a free-kick, the shot come cross was allowed to bounce into the corner of the Woodbridge goal. At this point the team lost its composure and began to play too many hopeful balls forward and Bohemians scored two more goals on the counter-attack, when the right-wing was allowed too much time and space. This was a tough game against a very committed and well-organised opposition, who deserved to win although a scoreline of 3-1 might have been a fairer reflection of the difference between the two teams. However the boys should be proud of their achievements in the cup so far and in today’s game. Matthew Read and Sam Tripp deserve special mention for the way they responded to the challenge of a very physical opposition midfield. Ashley Archer, Jack Christie and Ben Hopkins also stood up to the challenge posed by the opposition forwards and covered each other well and in the process tried to play some sensible football. The challenge is for the team to get back to winning ways next Sunday when the boys entertain Stow Town ‘B’ in the league.