This week the year 5/6 boys had a match against South View, looking to bounce back from a way below-par performance and result from the last time out. Unfortunately, this being the third match report I have written, it's a case of Deja Vu. We did not start the game well and found ourselves 4-0 down within 10 minutes. My mission is to understand why this is happening to all our teams, as it's not putting us in a position to dominate and win a game. We couldn't get near their technically gifted forward players as they reaped havoc through our team.

Shortly after this, we were awarded a penalty, and Teddy stepped up to power it past the South View keeper, which breathed new life into our team. We then started our feet in the game. We started to string together some passes to create some good goal-scoring opportunities that we, unfortunately, couldn't put away. South View then broke on the counterattack to make the score 5-1 to them heading into halftime. 

We had a good chat about how to deal with their forwards at halftime. First, we realised we needed to put stronger tackles in and engage them earlier in the phase so they had less time to turn and run at us. Secondly, I reemphasised the importance of trying to pass the ball through the team, as this is how we created most of our chances.

Heading into the second half, we took more control of the game by tightening up at the back and moving the ball more efficiently, as we looked a lot more dangerous on the attack. We clawed a couple of goals back through Teddy and Luca again to get the score to 5-3. South View then won a free kick, which was expertly placed into the top corner, and another chance to score 7-3. However, our boys did not give up. We got two more goals in the second half, with Luca firing in from a corner via a deflection, and then an own goal took the final score to 7-5.

Whilst the score line didn't end in our favour, this game was 100x more pleasing than the last time out. All the boys worked their socks off and continued until the final whistle. I could sense from them that they enjoyed it much more and knew they played much better this time. Suppose the boys keep applying themselves by doing the right things, staying positive and working hard. In that case, they will all succeed in football here and in their local football teams.

Team: Miguel, Riley, Zach, Teddy, Luca, George, Oskar, Tommy, Adam and Henry.