Wednesday 1st February 2017
Venue: Greenwich Avenue 3G facility
Competition: National U19 Alliance Div H
Kick off : 1:45pm
Admission : £0
Attendance: 12
Getting used to
mid-afternoon games now – and loving retirement! This game was a National U19
Alliance league fixture between leaders Basford Utd and 5th placed
Peterborough United. Basford have only lost once in the league this term, a 4-1
reverse at Peterborough in September, so the young homesters were out for
revenge…
I arrived at
Greenwich Avenue at 1:44pm for a 2:00pm kick-off, only to find the teams
already lined up, and Referee Lee Chappell and assistants already in position.
A 6th
minute goal for the home team was the dream start they were hoping for, NICK
KNIGHT on hand at the far post to stab home after a Callum Smith corner had
been headed on. Chance after chance
fell to Basford after the goal, but the youngsters were somewhat lacking in the
finishing department. On 14, Cardell Lubban managed to side-foot wide from two
yards out with the goal gaping, then Smith thumped a great effort against the
foot of the post 6 minutes later. These misses, along with a couple more, were
to prove costly in the short term, as Peterborough gradually began to show
their teeth, and with 27 played they equalised through DYLAN WILSON, the no. 11
driving a shot under the home keeper’s body.
Basford
continued to press and on the half hour mark, Lubban saw his fierce drive well
blocked by the visiting keeper – seconds later Diaz Cameron saw his goal-bound
effort deflected away for a corner.
Four minutes later, the home team were left ruing their missed
opportunities when from a corner kick, BEN WELCH rose well in the box to power
a header home to gave the visitors a surprise half-time lead. H-T 1-2
From the
restart, Basford poured forward, and had one early effort crash off the
crossbar. With just three minutes of the second half played, they restored
parity when CAMERON headed home a Will Brown corner from the edge of the
six-yard box. Sully Azzouz saw his effort on 52 well blocked by a defender soon after,
then Knight failed to properly connect with Brown’s pin-point free-kick.
Posh had a
long-range effort thud off the Basford bar on 70, but then the next Basford foray up
the pitch saw them retake the lead. Brown’s corner from the left was met at the
near post with a neat back header from ROBBIE MCNICHOLAS, the ball flying into
the net. LUBBAN added a fourth for
Basford on 79, driving low and hard under the keeper from the corner of the
area. With five to play, REMEL WHITE rolled the ball home to make the game
safe. One worry for the home team will be the injury sustained by Smith soon
after. The challenge looked innocuous,
but left the star in the making clutching his ankle. Basford had played all three subs, but it was decided it would be
best to take the player out of the action. His absence mattered little, as in
the 3nd minute of added time, LUBBAN ran onto a perfect pass from White and
slotted home with some ease. F-T 6-2
This academy football is well worth watching –
although only a dozen or so bothered on this occasion. With plenty of time on
my hands, I am looking forward to more and more mid-afternoon games!!!