U14 Boys go down fighting

By Duncan Sturdy

Closely fought game results in narrow loss

An usually large Maidenhead squad took on London Wanderers at Braywick with the 2-0 scoreline masking a closely fought game with chances at either end. The game started slowly for Maidenhead as the team settled into their positions. The midfield of Ollie, Luke, Edward and Max started linking together however skilful play from a number of Wanderers players brought the defence of Flynn, Mark, Declan and Dom into play on frequent occasions
Dom playing his first ever 11 aside game did excellently doing the simple tasks well of tracking players, intercepting and passing quickly. Freddie in goal was called into action on a number of occasions but for the first quarter kept a clean sheet.
Towards the end of the first quarter the midfield gradually found their passes into the forwards of Jai, Jay and James who made a number of breaks on goal snaffled by the Wanderers defence.

Second quarter began with a slight adjustment to 11 players (sorry Wanderers) and subbing in of Harry, Ewan and Cleve.
Before Maidenhead could adjust formation and new positions Wanderers pounced with a goal mouth scramble resulting for 1-0 at half time.

Second half Maidenhead began to play more open hockey with quicker passes through the midfield allowing Harry to frequently pick up the ball at halfway and slot through for James and Jay to have opportunities one on one with the keeper. A number of goal mouth scrambles and short corners could not be converted with Jai going particularly close, and a great cross from Ollie just missing the Maidenhead sticks.

Final quarter was end to end play with Freddie being called into action frequently resulting in a number of goal mouth scrambles and a diving clearance of the line by Flynn. Marc and Edward, through Luke, lead a number of attacks from deep in defence, however this opened up opportunities for Wanderers with a short corner in the final seconds making the final score 2-0.

Thanks to John and James for umpiring a closely though and well spirited match.