Date	Sunday 24th February 2013
Match	Royston Town Youth v Fairlands Youth
Competition	Royston Crow Youth Football League U15 Division 1
Result	Won 5-0
Royston Scorers	Sam 3, Ben, James R

It was a very cold morning at the heath but there was not much wind and the pitch was in excellent condition for the visit of Fairlands who although were sitting in the bottom three had won their last two games so we were expecting a tough game.

Rhys was the latest casualty on the injury front but we had fifteen to choose from so no complaints there. We knew what to expect from Fairlands they would be competitive and strong and their would be verbal’s to deal with as well but as long as we stayed focused we would be fine, we must just concentrate on our football and nothing else. The focus at training was shooting and having the confidence in front of goal because our build up play does not always end with the finished product we deserve. Work hard to close them down and when we have the ball make sure the player on it has options and of course let’s start taking our chances.

A slow start from us and for the first ten minutes there was nothing to choose between the sides, we then started to control the middle of the park and because of this started to use our wide men Bradley and James R who were causing them problems. Ben was holding the ball up well and Sam was causing them problems with his direct running which they were struggling with. We started to test the keeper and pushing them further back which caused some desperate but good defending from Fairlands. On twenty minutes we forced a corner and once again AJ’s delivery was perfect as was the movement from our boys and Alasdair was unlucky to see his header smack against the cross bar but Ben was the first to react and poked the ball over the line for our first. We then really turned the screw first AJ played a ball over the top for Sam to run onto he never gave up the chase and while there keeper and defender left it for each other his positive run meant that he nipped in and rolled the ball into an empty net for our second. Goal number three soon followed with Callum winning a tackle on half way then playing a simple pass to Bradley he ran with the ball before finding Sam whose finish from twenty yards was unstoppable at last we were taking our chances and the hard work from training was paying off. A fourth goal in ten minutes followed and once again AJ was the architect with a great pass inside the full back for James R to run onto and coolly finish for his second goal of the season. This purple patch finished the game as a contest and we went in 4-0 up at half time.

We were really pleased with the majority of that half it was a slow start but once we got going we were excellent and clinical in front of goal, the passing was good but the options for the player with the ball was the best we had seen this season. We wanted the same again this half the only minus was for one or two of the boys not to get distracted with the verbal’s as at times we were as guilty as Fairlands.

All four subs started the second half but this did not affect the way we started as we were continually on the front foot and playing some nice football. Eamon picked up a stomach injury early in the half but Mr reliable Matt stepped in and like the first half played without fuss and along with Callum, Jack M, Alasdair and Robbie in goal had a comfortable day with not much threat coming from Fairlands in an attacking sense. The fifth goal came when Sam was fouled in the box he picked himself up and dispatched the penalty in the corner for a well deserved hat-trick. Richard and AJ continued to dominate in midfield and with both Ross and Jack O causing problems out wide Fairland’s got men behind the ball to try and stem the flow of attacks. James B was finding space in-between there defence and was unlucky not to add to our total so we had to settle for a 5-0 win which was a very pleasing result and one we fully deserved.

We told the boys how pleased we were with that performance they had a good tempo about them today and were dominant from early on. they worked hard to win the ball back and played some good football and the options for the player on the ball was excellent, we have to keep building on this and working hard in training because we still have a chance to win the league and that must be the aim.