Keep them motors running...

A real hum-dinger of a match this week... It had Thrills... Spills (Tony)... And best of all, Goals (but not as many as we deserved)...

Under 16’s – Division 2

Penn & Tylers Green 1 – Hale Leys Youth 2

Hale Leys Youth pulled out a sparkling performance yesterday (Sunday) against what was set to be a strong opposition. Having been nudged from the top spot, which they have held all season, nothing less than a win was going to appease them.

The Aylesbury squad were switched on from the first kick & set the tempo high pushing many attacking chances forward & keeping the home side ‘Penn-ed in’. An attack down the right wing, eight minutes in, cleared through the defence & when the ball swung across the box Nathan Scarfe made light work of tipping it over keeper Stefan Yates.

Rattled, the home teams reply was to launch the ball forward when under pressure but despite the best efforts of forwards Connor Kelly & Tom Fifield they were unable to provide a significant threat to the visitors. Leys continued to make chances that kept Penn & Tylers defence & keeper Yates working hard to keep a clear area.

As the match approached halftime Leys continual harrying of the defence proved worthwhile. A move through the middle of the pitch by Scott Turner & a blunder in the Penn & Tylers defence came together in perfect harmony; Turner raising the ball over Yates once more.

The second half should have given the home side a slight advantage as they then had the slope of the pitch in their favour; but with the Leys ‘engines’ looking ‘turbo-charged’ fewer opportunities came their way than they expected.

Despite the advances having to be made uphill, Leys continued to push on, but it was a free kick awarded to Penn & Tylers that was to be an undoing of the previous 55 minutes. Delivered well the ball took a bounce that caught Leys off guard, giving Penn & Tylers Green number 10 the chance to tuck it away past Gary Bidgway.

With the home team gee-d up by their turn of fortune they continued to push hard changing their formation to bring a definite ‘three up front’ presence, but Leys wanted the win more & kept pushing to increase their lead.

Having seen their teammate from the back line (Turner) sink a goal away, both Leys left & right backs fancied in on the action. James Marsh on the left took a stretch of his legs & having taken the ball forward up to the edge of the area was unable to get a clear cross in to his supporting forwards; Chris Pope form the right however had a better chance, making a mazy run along the right wing & getting around the huge defender Kieran Reed but although he had a clearer view on goal it wasn’t clear enough & with the box filling up with both defence & forwards the shot at goal was scuffed wide of target.

The visitors held the score line up to the final whistle & with another 3 points in the bag the contest at the top of the table is going to go down to the wire.

Another resting weekend coming up so I'll be back with more at the end of the month...

Sadly my reporting days are nearing the end, changes of shift mean that as the battle at the top of the table hots-up Im going to have to hand the notebook to an assistant (sob-sob) But, all being well I can take their notes & keep writing the blog (yippee!)