Committed performance secures a 3-3 draw

Aylesbury Town  3 – 3  Penn & Tylers Green Youth

The Penn and Tylers Youth team arrived in Aylesbury in great weather conditions with a well kept pitch that promised a fast unpredictable game due to the slightly bobbly nature of the council owned allotment.

The game kicked off with Penn playing slightly on the back foot, needing to slow the game down and get some early possession and confidence. Aylesbury Town moved the ball around the pitch expertly but lacked quality in the final third of the pitch, and some great defensive play by a solid back four ensured all dangers early on were quelled. Credit to Alex Morgan and Johnny Carpenter who were able to track their opposite numbers and shut down and crossing opportunities that were dealt with well when the inevitable happened and the ball was whipped into the box.

The dynamics of the game soon changed however, as Penn were able to throw a committed midfield forward in search of breaking the deadlock. Ross Baker’s ability was utilised early on as he took the game to Aylesbury with some fantastic forward runs accompanied by pin point deliveries that saw a great chance go begging as Luke Cohen’s header rose over the bar. The deadlock was finally broken, against the run of play, when Curtis Stone delivered a great ball from a goal kick towards Byron Stevens who nodded the ball on to Luke Cohen to strike the ball at goal who was stopped by the opposition keeper who now found himself off his line. The ball fell kindly for Will Brangwin who struck the ball from about 35 yards out with exquisite technique, reminiscent of Stevie G, as he drilled the ball into the roof of the net over the flailing keeper.

This gave Penn a huge boost of confidence and self belief that was somewhat lacking on arrival due to the calibre of the opposition. Following a similar trend to the first goal Curtis launched a goal kick deep into the oppositions half where Byron Stevens was able to latch onto the ball and drive into the heart of the attacking third before releasing a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Luke Cohen who dispatched the chance with ease. 2-0 Penn.
Penn continued to press on the counter attack and a third goal looked inevitable as Joey Fisher released Luke Cohen for a one on one but went for goal instead of squaring the ball for Joe Fisher to punish a disorganised Aylesbury defence, a good save.
The half was far from over however, and Aylesbury Town continued to move the ball around the pitch giving Will Brangwin and Curtis Stone a lot to do in the middle of the park against a well established midfield three. Mounting pressure was being dealt with adamantly by the back four with slide tackles flying in left right and centre from both centre backs; Will Eustace and Luke Graham. However the pressure finally counted as Luke Graham failed to clear the ball as the Aylesbury striker got away unscathed from the high foot appeals and poked the ball home from 2 yards, Connor Latta didn’t stand a chance between the sticks.

Half time came around and Penn had a lot of positives to take from the first half with committed performances around the field, notably Ross Baker who had something to prove after being pushed out of the starting line up by Josh Barr in previous weeks. Aylesbury came shooting out of the blocks however and showed more hunger and desire in the opening ten minutes of the half which was rewarded by an equaliser that came from a scrabbled defence as Johnny Carpenter had committed himself to another offensive counter down the left flank and so the overlap proved fatal as Will Eustace pushed across leaving Luke Graham to defend a two on one which ended with a powerful shot from the edge of the area going across Conor Latta’s body who showed a lack of conviction in the save as the ball was palmed into the back of his own net.

As the Penn heads began to drop Aylesbury struck again as they began to adopt a more direct approach to the goal. The left winger who, had been excellent for Aylesbury Town up to that point,  pressed on unchallenged into the Penn half and struck the ball from about 30 yards out releasing a screamer into the top right hand corner that an established keeper would have struggled to stop.

At 3-2 down with over half an hour still to play belief seemed to dwindle slowly as the Aylesbury possession mounted and they continued to press on in search of a fourth goal. A fourth goal eventually came through a cross was bundled over the line but was disallowed because the ball had gone out of play then come back in again. The decision gave Penn a sense of purpose back as Curtis Stone and Will Brangwin upped the ante as they dug deep and never stopped running. Attacking runs made by both Will Eustace and Luke Graham injected some attacking flair combined with Johnny Carpenter, Byron Stevens and Ross Baker who were getting into dangerous crossing positions all game. Penn were able to send the ball long upto Joe Fisher, Luke Cohen or Byron Stevens who were winning everything in the air and creating confusion in the Aylesbury defence. As the chances mounted the Aylesbury team began to get frustrated with each other and lose some of their intense focus showed in the first half. Chances went begging in the second half, most notably from Joe Fisher as Johnny Carpenter picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and jigged his way into a position to shoot but unselfishly squared the ball to Joe who got an unfortunate bobble and at full stretch knocked the ball over from 4 yards.

The equaliser came after Penn pressure had been building and building and a freekick about 40 yards outside of the goal was driven in to the back post with purpose from Luke Graham and was converted by Byron Stevens at full stretch.

An elated Penn team then held on till the 90 were over with a brilliant last ten minutes that saw flowing end to end football with both teams in desperate search for a winner. However the Aylesbury players began to lose their cool a little as dangerous tackles began to fly in resulting in what most thought should have been a red card but it was overlooked. A nerve racking end to the game saw Ben Smith come on for Alex Morgan who put in a faultless game at right back, who held his own and gave Penn a pair of fresh legs to run the game out. The pinnacle of chances came when an unbelievable tackle from the recovering Aylesbury centre back blocked Luke Cohen from slotting the ball into the empty net after expertly rounding the goalkeeper.
Credit to Josh Knight and Richie Cook who travelled down as substitutes.

Man of the Match: Ross Baker

Match Report: Luke Graham