Wilmslow Town U10's A - gun down much improved Jets

13 October 2008

Having amazed all with a 9-0 opening day drubbing of the Jets at Lacey Green, the early season return match always promised to be a much tighter affair for Albion, and so it proved. The Jets had recorded their first win 3-0 the previous week, and were out training well before the first Albion player arrived at 9.30am - clearly they meant business and weren't going to suffer another humiliation having played so well against Albion in our two friendlies with them last season.

The first period kicked off in quite windy conditions and although the Jets closed Albion down well, Albion still made some early chances with Fenton shooting just wide, Harney having a shot charged down and Jackson a shot saved by the Jets' keeper. However, some over-elaborate play by Albion at the back resulted in several interceptions in key areas for the Jets who could have punished Albion for their profligacy but didn't thanks in the main to some sound defending by Higginson. The stress of the situation resulted in the first "yellow card" of the game given by coach Boyd (snr) to our over-vocal reporter Harney for urging Ward a little too vehemently to "boot it". Eventually though, the early pressure from Albion paid off when the ball came out to Boyd (jnr) and his smart, low shot from 10 yards out beat the keeper in the right hand corner for 1-0 to Albion. A further saved shot from Jackson and a Jets' shot just wide drew the first period to a close with the scoreline reflecting the balance of chances created.

Period 2 started with Eyres and Finney both on, Eyres making a rare appearance up-front which nearly paid instance dividends when a nice turn and cross by Gregson was met near-post by Eyres but the side-foot shot was just wide. Gregson then had a looped shot which was saved by the keeper, and from the resulting corner Higginson ghosted in totally unmarked to tap the ball in from 2 yards out for 2-0. The lower, central ball in from the corner clearly fooled the Jets who must have been watching last seasons' 50 greatest Albion corners compilation (DVD £9.99 all bad stockists) - basically the same corner 50 times over (you know the one - high ball to the far post but even Crouchy couldn't have reached it).

At 2-0 up, the Jets responded well and put Albion under some pressure which was repelled time and again by some tough-tackling by Boyd, Finney and Higginson. Ward, although rarely troubled, made a smart save to end the half with the score at 2-0 to Albion.

In the third and final period, Albion continued to carve out chances and the Jets looked somewhat resigned to their fate - they never quite recovered from the gift of a second goal which made the task far harder for them, but to their credit they kept going and never really looked like capitulating as they had done only 3 weeks previously. With Harney, Harris & Eyres back on, Albion stepped up their pursuit of goals with an Eyres' shot being deflected for a corner and a Boyd half-volley from the resulting corner just over the bar. A great run and cross on the wide right by Fenton saw Harney just miss out on getting his head to it for a certain goal. Jets replied with a good free-kick and a shot requiring a smart save again from Ward. Harris then pulled up winded following a good interception and after a tussle, and Albion missed a couple of final chances courtesy of Harney & Gregson before the final whistle blew.

This had been quite a tough test for Albion and it would have been interesting to see what would have transpired if we hadn't have got the second when we did as this seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Jets who were much improved and a different team to the one we met 3 weeks previously.

The MoM voting resulted in a tie between Gregson and Higginson, the former no doubt for some great direct runs and crosses, the latter for the crucial second goal and another no-nonsense performance in the centre of defence.

Source: M Harney

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