09/10/2016
U12s UPDATE:
TFA Hatch End FC 4-1 St Andrew's
SQUAD: Bacha, Abdulla, Yaseen, Rehan, Osman, Zeeky, Zain, Andrew, Tim, Fadil, JJ
SCORERS: Tim (2), Fadil (2)
MotM: Yaseen - defended magnificently throughout the game and handled the pressure of playing against strong, fast and technical players.
This was a very difficult game against an organised side full of strong players. Two weeks ago we threw in the towel against similar opposition; today we stood up for ourselves, played as a team and earned a very satisfying victory.
We spent most of the first half defending our goal well but found it difficult to play our way out. At half time we were 0-1 down with Bacha to thank for a number of fine saves to give us hope.
We were a different team in the second half. Our determination to match the opposition physically was great to see and the improved quality and speed of our passing allowed us to create many more chances to score.
Eventually the equaliser came (Tim) and this seemed to give us the belief and confidence to step it up. A few minutes later, the opposition stopped playing thinking there was an offside, but our policy of playing to the referee's whistle (and not the linesman's errant flag) led to Fadil's goal. The game was still in the balance and more great saves from Bacha protected our lead.
The saying that 'luck favours the brave' was evident in our third goal (Fadil), which was the luckiest goal in the history of TFA! By this point our opponents were losing their shape as well as their discipline and this helped us seal the win with a fourth goal (Tim) late on.
A hard fought and very satisfying victory. Let's build on this next week!