Back to the Future
The time is 9:20pm on Friday evening and Coach Harris is driving home a little tired after his 5-aside antics, when a phone call comes through to say that the originally-planned game versus Woking is now off. Without much hope of finding a replacement team within the short space of time, the decision is made to put a 'plea for help' out on Facebook (or The Facebook, as some people in the older generations call it).
Thankfully we, as an association, have some brilliant friends that keep a close eye on the happenings at GPSFA and jumped at the chance to help us. Within less than an hour our morning game was rescued by Gloucester City U-12s - half of whom played for GPSFA last season.
Excitement ensued for the matches in the morning. The A team against a good opposition (and the B team's competitors in two weeks time) and we welcomed back some old (in both senses of the word) faces. The B team were behaving in their normal banter-like ways, but they seemed to be ready for the tough test that lay ahead.
The game kicked off and the battle commenced. Both teams were trying to get the ball down to play some football, but it was City who were creating the openings for that first goal. Fortey’s effort was saved by Boakes after some good work on the edge of the area and Limbrick followed with a half volley going just wide.
The defence of Mason, Ball and Mulraney started very strongly and although chances were being created by Glos City, they weren't able to penetrate the home area with much force, most things being cut out before the ball could get that far. Mulraney, up against Hanlon from last year's A team, showed great determination to keep up with the pacey winger and thwart any danger on their right-side. Ball stayed with Harris (last year's B team striker who scored 25+ goals) and gave him little opportunity to test Boakes in goal, with Mason managing to keep up with Knight (last year's A team), putting the ball out of play to calm the pressure created.
Further efforts followed by Limbrick, Knight and Harris, but Boakes (having one of his best games of the season) was equal to them all. [It was noted by opposition parents, that Boakes' handling of the ball was brilliant and nothing got away from him.]
With the Bs (playing in black today) holding off the pressure, they slowly started to come into the game somewhat in terms of getting into their final third. Their first big opportunity came when Bee latched on to a lofted ball and took on the defender. Into the area, he took a shot towards goal only for the ball to fall straight into Sargeant's hands (given the title last season of the best ever B team goalkeeper - definitely since the Wixey-Harris era began).
The second half saw the B team push it up a notch and probably create the better chances of the half. Kennedy found his way through the back line to be one-on-one with Sargeant, only for the keeper to spread himself big and save with his trailing leg. Kennedy then tested the keeper again with a header that this time he caught comfortably, but opportunities continued to arrive as both Fisher and Taylor had great efforts at goal - also dealt with by Sargeant.
The Yellows started to attack a little more leaving space for the Bs to exploit. On the moments that City did attack Knight and Ansermoz (another from last year's B team) managed to get into the box a number of times, creating chances for team-mates. However, pleasing to see, any chances were blocked by any GPSFA player that could get in the way. Rutter, for City, came close with a half volley outside the area, but the ever-present Boakes saved well again.
On the times when the ball was won back by either Jones, Mulraney, Ball or Werner, it allowed Kennedy, Villiers, Taylor & Fisher to attack some more at their end. Chances landing to Fisher, Kennedy and Villiers were all equalled out, but the desire to get at their defence was great to see.
The game finished 0-0 and as coaches we were incredibly proud - probably the proudest we've been of the boys so far this season. It was noted before the game that they had the capabilities of giving City a good game - should they choose to turn up and battle, or they had the capabilities to be smashed - should they choose to start the game as they have done in previous outings. Thankfully they chose the former - playing for the full 60 minutes and hopefully seeing what they're capable of should they battle and play for the entire game.
A massive thank you must go out to Liam Tandy for organising a team in such a short space of time and agreeing to play us. Another big thank you goes to the parents of last year (in particular Tash Sargeant), who saw my post and pushed for it to happen. With a combination of how the B team played and seeing past players and families, the place had a lovely buzz about it (even more so than normal) and we thank everyone (especially the boys), past and present, in creating that.
Gloucester: Boakes (Dory); Mason (Bambi), Ball (Bully), Mulraney (Mullers), Villiers (JV), Bee (Balalala), Kennedy (Rowling), Taylor (Piglet), Fisher (Fish); Werner (MFDF), Jones (Lord Fartquaad).
Thankfully we, as an association, have some brilliant friends that keep a close eye on the happenings at GPSFA and jumped at the chance to help us. Within less than an hour our morning game was rescued by Gloucester City U-12s - half of whom played for GPSFA last season.
Excitement ensued for the matches in the morning. The A team against a good opposition (and the B team's competitors in two weeks time) and we welcomed back some old (in both senses of the word) faces. The B team were behaving in their normal banter-like ways, but they seemed to be ready for the tough test that lay ahead.
The game kicked off and the battle commenced. Both teams were trying to get the ball down to play some football, but it was City who were creating the openings for that first goal. Fortey’s effort was saved by Boakes after some good work on the edge of the area and Limbrick followed with a half volley going just wide.
The defence of Mason, Ball and Mulraney started very strongly and although chances were being created by Glos City, they weren't able to penetrate the home area with much force, most things being cut out before the ball could get that far. Mulraney, up against Hanlon from last year's A team, showed great determination to keep up with the pacey winger and thwart any danger on their right-side. Ball stayed with Harris (last year's B team striker who scored 25+ goals) and gave him little opportunity to test Boakes in goal, with Mason managing to keep up with Knight (last year's A team), putting the ball out of play to calm the pressure created.
Further efforts followed by Limbrick, Knight and Harris, but Boakes (having one of his best games of the season) was equal to them all. [It was noted by opposition parents, that Boakes' handling of the ball was brilliant and nothing got away from him.]
With the Bs (playing in black today) holding off the pressure, they slowly started to come into the game somewhat in terms of getting into their final third. Their first big opportunity came when Bee latched on to a lofted ball and took on the defender. Into the area, he took a shot towards goal only for the ball to fall straight into Sargeant's hands (given the title last season of the best ever B team goalkeeper - definitely since the Wixey-Harris era began).
The second half saw the B team push it up a notch and probably create the better chances of the half. Kennedy found his way through the back line to be one-on-one with Sargeant, only for the keeper to spread himself big and save with his trailing leg. Kennedy then tested the keeper again with a header that this time he caught comfortably, but opportunities continued to arrive as both Fisher and Taylor had great efforts at goal - also dealt with by Sargeant.
The Yellows started to attack a little more leaving space for the Bs to exploit. On the moments that City did attack Knight and Ansermoz (another from last year's B team) managed to get into the box a number of times, creating chances for team-mates. However, pleasing to see, any chances were blocked by any GPSFA player that could get in the way. Rutter, for City, came close with a half volley outside the area, but the ever-present Boakes saved well again.
On the times when the ball was won back by either Jones, Mulraney, Ball or Werner, it allowed Kennedy, Villiers, Taylor & Fisher to attack some more at their end. Chances landing to Fisher, Kennedy and Villiers were all equalled out, but the desire to get at their defence was great to see.
The game finished 0-0 and as coaches we were incredibly proud - probably the proudest we've been of the boys so far this season. It was noted before the game that they had the capabilities of giving City a good game - should they choose to turn up and battle, or they had the capabilities to be smashed - should they choose to start the game as they have done in previous outings. Thankfully they chose the former - playing for the full 60 minutes and hopefully seeing what they're capable of should they battle and play for the entire game.
A massive thank you must go out to Liam Tandy for organising a team in such a short space of time and agreeing to play us. Another big thank you goes to the parents of last year (in particular Tash Sargeant), who saw my post and pushed for it to happen. With a combination of how the B team played and seeing past players and families, the place had a lovely buzz about it (even more so than normal) and we thank everyone (especially the boys), past and present, in creating that.
Gloucester: Boakes (Dory); Mason (Bambi), Ball (Bully), Mulraney (Mullers), Villiers (JV), Bee (Balalala), Kennedy (Rowling), Taylor (Piglet), Fisher (Fish); Werner (MFDF), Jones (Lord Fartquaad).
