UNDER 8 LIONS
Kai, Jude, Jordon, Kevin, Ashley, Hakan, Rashaan, Harvey, Tom, Alfie, Hanuel.
Management Team
Manager
Richard George
07989 206759
Administration
Michael Lawrence
07881 951192
Match reports
Glebe Lions Under 8’s vs Coney Hall
Sunday 7th March 2010
Southborough Primary School
It seems that Glebe Under 8 games start on a Saturday night nowadays as we wait by our mobiles for the inevitable text from Mike advising that the Sunday fixture has been cancelled, due to the weather, or illness, or perhaps even leaves on the line. So at 8 o’clock on Sunday morning it was surely time to believe………
Coney Hall seem to be a real challenge for us, having drawn the last three encounters with them after dominating the games we seem to get caught by a sucker goal leaving us chasing the game, surely today could not be another draw……….
With virtually a full squad to choose from, the only noticeable absentee being Alfie who was off representing his school in a rugby tournament, Richard adopted a customary 2-2-2 formation, with Rashaan in goal, Jude and Hanuel at the back, Kai and Harvey in midfield and Jordan and Ashley up front. A very strong bench included Hakan, Kevin and Tom. The referee for today’s game, due to there being no world cup qualifying games being played, was Mem in all his resplendent glory.
We must also thank the outside broadcasting team for setting up their cameras on the touchline so that we would be able to watch the game again in the comfort of our own homes…….
With a firm blast of his whistle Mem got the game underway and for the first five minutes honours were even with both goalkeepers being called into action. Jordan was seeing a lot of the ball and it was not long before he was pressurising the Coney Hall defence with a variety of long range shooting and close control runs into the penalty area. A combination of last gasp defending and excellent goalkeeping was all that stopped Glebe from scoring. Harvey was timing his tackles well and keeping the ball in the Coney Hall half and the supporters were on the edge of their seats.
Coney Hall seemed to be happy to play on the counter attack as Glebe pushed forward in numbers and some well timed tackles from Hanuel and Jude, and some good defensive midfield work from Kai ensured that Rashaan was able to keep a clean sheet. Both sides proved that they were capable of playing flowing football, spreading the ball the width of the pitch to provide an attacking encounter that would keep the supporters warm on a bitterly cold morning. Perhaps it was too cold for the Glebe supporters to really get behind their team and act as the ‘8th Man’ as they have done so often in the past…….. when Michelle and Sarah turned up with 18 minutes gone to get the cheerleaders into full voice and to witness one of the contenders for goal of the season. Kai, who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch, picked up the ball in his own half, played a one two with Ashley and then proceeded to beat three Coney Hall players before thundering an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. 1-0 Glebe.
The Coney Hall Manager immediately introduced a couple of substitutions in an attempt to counter Glebe’s dominance and it was not long before he was rewarded, as Kai, who had been everywhere else on the pitch decided he would like to play in goal also and handled the ball in his own box. Mem had no hesitation in awarding the penalty which was duly converted by the Coney Hall player despite a valiant effort from Rashaan who managed to get a hand to the ball.
Straight from the kick off Coney Hall continued to pressurise Glebe and were very unlucky with an attempt that hit the angle of the post and bar before rolling along the goal line to the relief of Rashaan. We nearly needed to call on the cameraman to replay the evidence to confirm that the ball had not crossed the line, but we thought better of confusing matters…………….
It was now Richard’s turn to introduce some fresh blood which he duly did by replacing Harvey with Hakan and Jude with Kevin. At the end of the first half the score was 1-1 and there could be no real complaints from either side as it had been a very close encounter.
As the supporters huddled against the cold during the half time break we were advised that the only chance of reviewing Kai’s goal would be if we closed our eyes and dreamed as the high tec camera equipment had failed us at a key moment….. Tavia had left the lens cap on….!!
Mem got the second half under way under the close scrutiny of the club’s FIFA representative, Ann, and immediately Coney Hall went on the attack. Kevin was called into action with a couple of quick fire tackles to prevent the attacks from resulting in anything more than a corner, which were resolutely defended by Glebe. Tom had now been introduced by Richard and he was immediately thrust into the heart of the battle, running at defenders and supporting Ashley and Hakan with some fine passing. Ashley picked up the tempo of the game with some excellent wing play, and it looked for a while as though there would be a repeat of the first goal after some excellent passing between him and Kai, but unfortunately their goalkeeper was equal to the challenge and pulled off a fine double save.
It was not long though before the Coney Hall pressure told, and after some excellent interplay they found themselves 2-1 in front 10 minutes into the second half.
Jude was brought back to play left midfield and Jordan was moved to the right. Glebe were contesting very hard for everything and Hanuel was tackling and distributing the ball from defence with real authority, which enabled Jordan, Kai and Jude to run at the Coney Hall defence while Hakan was fighting for every half chance in front of goal. Eventually a cross from Jordan found its way to Hakan inside the penalty area who was immediately closed down by three Coney Hall defenders but managed to squeeze the ball out to Jude who cut inside his defender and fired a left foot shot into the bottom corner of the goal. 2-2 and all to play for. The game was now becoming far too important to lose and players from both sides were subject to some very strong challenges, which was swiftly dealt with by some unfussy refereeing. Unfortunately this provoked a reaction between the managers as Jude broke through with only the goalkeeper to beat only to be called back by the referee due to a Coney Hall player being injured. There only looked like being one winner now as the game went on, but unfortunately the excellent form of the Coney Hall goalkeeper was to thwart attempts from Tom and Hakan and the result was, predicatably, a draw………………
A deserved mention of the man of the match award goes to Kai, who scored a great goal and had a ‘hand’ in at least one of the others…………
Richard George’s Red and Black Army…………………………..
SM
Opposition 6 Glebe Lions 2
A late kick off saw the Lions meeting at 11.45 for a fixture that was always going to be difficult. The game was to become even more difficult when it became apparent that Rashaan was going to be too unwell to play although he bravely turned up and made himself available. Kevin very kindly agreed to step into Rashaans shoes (although he did wear slightly larger gloves).
Richard was thankfully back to give his customary team talk, reminding the players to work hard, to never give up, but most of all to play the “Glebe “ brand of passing football. The players responded and we certainly weren’t in awe of our opposition. The first 10 minutes saw us keep possession well, attacking the oppositions goal time after time. A little like the Arsenal yesterday, we were unfortunately not able to turn our attacks into goals, although there were near misses from Alfie, Jordan and Kai.
We eventually paid the price, and three counter attacks from our opposition saw them go three up. Never, letting our heads drop, the Lions continued to press especially Kai, who was at his industrious best, leading attacks before getting back to defend. Ashley intercepted a pass on the right, and passed to Jordan, who in turn fed Jude. Settling himself Jude rifled an unstoppable shot past the opposition keeper and into the net. It was just what the Lions deserved, although another counter attack saw us concede another goal to go into half time 4-1 down.
The second half saw much the same, although we were probably better defensively, with excellent work from Alfie and Hanuel, the latter of whom would go on to win our “Man of the Match”. Tom also came on to help give us some defensive cover and put in another good performance. Hakan was now leading the line, and one of many huge kicks from Kevin saw Hakan win the ball before unselfishly squaring it to Ashley who scored to make it 4-2.
Two more conceded goals saw us lose 6-2, but the score flattered the opposition and we were delighted with the attitude of the players, and some of our passing football was excellent.
Junior Elite Under 8’s vs Glebe Lions Under 8’s
Sunday 4th October 2009
Bethlem Royal Hospital
As the new season gets under way it is unlikely that we will encounter a more foreboding venue than today’s. Every week as I look along the touchline at our support I consider that a few straight jackets wouldn’t go amiss, but this was taking things to extremes…..
The pitch itself was never going to lend itself to the free flowing passing game that Richard is trying to instil in his capable young team, and ironically the heavy slope was always going to be a great leveller…..
We established that we would be kicking uphill in the first half and Glebe were quickly into their stride. Some good early tackles from Hanuel and Alfie let their forwards know that they were going to have to work for their goals today. Ashley and Jordan were supporting well, even though they were forced to spend most of the time in their own half, and Jude and Hakan tried to make the most of the limited opportunity that playing uphill offered.
After the first 10 minutes of both sides negating each others attacking play Alfie put in a perfectly timed tackle in the heart of defence and passed the ball to Jude on the halfway line, who turned inside his man and set Hakan off on a run towards goal. Having beaten his man with relative ease, he set himself for a shot on goal only to be thwarted by a last gasp tackle, resulting in a corner. Ashley intelligently took the corner short to Jordan who characteristically beat 2 players before unleashing his shot goalwards………… CROSSBAR. The supporters were now getting right behind the team and Richard, sensing the opportunity to pile on the pressure made a couple of quick substitutions bringing on Jamie and Kai. Every player was now working hard defending and whilst we were under pressure we never really looked like conceding, and the opportunities that fell to Jordan, Jamie, Ashley and Hakan brought out the best in their defence. The first half was always going to be difficult playing uphill, and to end up 0-0 at half time ought to have been sensed as a victory. Rashaan had pulled off two or three important saves and Hanuel and Alfie managed to repel the many attacks made by the Junior Elite forwards. Ashley, Jordan, Jude and Kai all tracked back well, whilst taking every opportunity to join in with Jamie and Hakan in attack, who performed excellently with such a limited service.
During the first half break the Glebe support could smell the scent victory, having seen their team perform so well under disadvantaged circumstances could surely only mean one result in the second half with the advantage of kicking down hill.
The second half began and Richard showed a certain tactical nous by introducing Kevin at the heart of defence in an attempt to use his power to supply the forwards with quality possession deep into opposition territory (Richard will suggest that it is simply squad rotation, but it is a well known fact that all of the parents know more than the manager in junior football). Immediately Glebe were into their flow and a series of attacks inspired by some tireless work from Jamie, with long range shots being supplied by Jude and Kai eventually resulted in a breakthrough…. 1-0 Glebe. The move began with Rashaan bravely collecting the ball at the feet of an oncoming attacker and distributing it quickly to Kai in midfield, who passed the ball wide to Jude, who in turn found Jamie on the edge of the penalty area. His perfectly timed pass to Jordan w
