Under 12s League Cup Final

A Game of two Halves

PTGFC U12 6 – 2 Holtspur U12

PTGFC U12 - League Cup Winners 2011

Once again Penn made it through to the League Cup Final, facing Holtspur, the team that had won the League Cup against us the previous season in the Under 11’s. The pitch was dry and dusty, but the weather was clear and still relatively warm despite the occasional gust of wind, conditions that allowed Penn to start comfortably pushing forward and having a couple of early chances to test the Holtspur goal keeper. Unfortunately disaster struck when a long ball was punted forward and our defence failed to clear, leaving a two against one on the Penn keeper and Holtspur one nil up after only 8 minutes.

The boys regained their composure and continued to threaten Holtspur and the persistence paid off when the ball was played into the box and Oliver White got a shot off which hit the goal keepers legs and then bounced straight back to Ollie who slotted it home second time around.

The right side of midfield started to dominate play, with Jamie Franks and Ben Hodges in midfield linking up well with Alex Colverd up front, but despite the occasional shot, the boys just weren’t getting the final finish.

Then with only a few minutes to half time, we were caught once again, when Holtspur played a ball across the box from the right hand side of the penalty area and the defence was caught napping, leaving an easy chance for their forward to put them back in front.

Following the half time hair dryer, the cobwebs were blown away, and the boys truly proved football is a game of two halves (got to get them clichés in), when within a minute of the start Oliver White made a solo run down the left wing, into the box, shuffled past the keeper and slotted home the equaliser.

The midfield became rejuvenated with Samuel Parry and Martin Lancaster shifting up several gears and Daniel Sheppard making some great runs down the left wing from the left back position. The central defence of Jack Thetford and Sam Keen also started to look more composed, along with Mikey Canty in the right back position, stopping all of Hotspurs’ long balls and effectively killing their game.

All the hard work paid off again in the 43rd minute when Ben Hodges put in a long cross from the right hand side to Martin Lancaster on the left who was unmarked. Martin calmly placed the ball to the left of the keeper and put Penn in the lead.

The midfield continued to dominate the play and the defence became relatively untroubled as the boys’ confidence increased and Holtpsur started to have no answer to the football being played by Penn. At this point, Penn started making some substitutions, with Oliver White making way for James Lawton up front and Aydin Iris replacing Samuel Parry in midfield.

Then on the 51st minute, following more interlinking play down the left hand side, the ball was played square to Alex Colverd who hit a shot against the cross bar which bounced to the feet of James Lawton for a simple tap in. Harry Myall also got his first touch of the ball since coming on ten minutes earlier to replace Isaac in goal.

Within three minutes, Penn struck again, when Alex struck an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area into the top of the goal, putting us 5 – 2 ahead. Alex was then substituted for Sam Sanders and Khalid Sulaiman replaced the Captain Mikey Canty.

Finally with only a couple of minutes to go, Jack made a superb solo run from the midfield, weaving past several Holtspur players and into the penalty area from where he squared the ball to James who took a shot which was saved by the keeper. Fortunately Sam Sanders pounced on the loose ball and stuck it hard over the sprawling keeper into the roof of the net, leaving Penn deserved 6 -2 winners.