25th November Div. Three
Canterbury Youth Colts 1 – 3 St Margaret’s
Canterbury Youth U10 colts hosted St Margaret’s at
Kent
University and league table positions suggested St Margaret’s would go in as favourites having only lost one game all season and having a strong scoring record. Despite Canterbury Youth only having recorded one win their run of results have been closely contended with many games finishing on the wrong end of the odd goal.
Canterbury were confident that an ‘upset’ could well be on the cards.
In the opening 10 minutes of the game
Canterbury were required to draw upon solid defensive performances of Connor Epps to Sam Dobson whilst the team settled into the game. Luke Fagg played confidently in goal coming off his line to close down St Margaret’s shooting opportunities. Unfortunately
Canterbury were unable to repel all of St Margarets momentum and after about 20 minutes they conceded two quick goals. Rather than deflate
Canterbury this only seemed to steel them into a greater share of the game. Some strong play from Thomas Finch saw him pressure the St Margaret’s defence into a mistake that he quickly seized to slide the ball past the advancing keeper. The game was now very evenly contested.
The second half saw some determined midfield play from Oliver Dunn and Danny Louka. Some quick passing and closing down of the opposition saw
Canterbury making a very strong showing. Captain Chris Walker showed some silky touches, skill and strength on the ball to dance through the opposition on numerous occasions.
Canterbury created many scoring opportunities and with St Margaret’s needing to recover from numerous goal mouth scrambles. Unfortunately with approximately 10 minutes to go
Canterbury failed to close down an attacking play from St Margarets allowing a well taken goal. With 10 minutes to go
Canterbury were still troubling the St Margaret’s goal with Jordan Baker coming within inches of scoring twice in the dying minutes.
MOTM: Chris Walker
Team: Chris Walker, Luke Fagg, Sam Dobson, Connor Epps, Thomas Finch, Jordan Baker, Oliver Dunn, Danny Louka.
4th November Div. Three
Canterbury Youth Colts 2 – 8
Margate Youth
Sunday 4th November saw Canterbury Youth host Margate Youth for a 2:00pm kick off. Whilst pre match form had
Margate as slight favourites there should have been little between the teams. Unfortunately
Canterbury had a slow start to the game and struggled to match Margates’ eagerness in the first 15 minutes. Some determined play by
Margate saw them 3-0 up within the first 15 minutes. Such a start left the
Canterbury boys somewhat reeling and needing to play catch up football.
Joel Goldsack – Marsh linked well with Jordan Baker up front creating some clear opportunities on goal however these were unable to be capitalised on. Despite
Canterbury beginning to recover and developing greater playing options
Margate were able to make the most of opportunities and found the back of the net on two more occasions. 0-5 down at half time reflected an uncharacteristic first half performance from
Canterbury.
The second half saw a
Canterbury team playing with much greater resolve, determination and energy. A true show of heart to pick up some rather dented spirits and make a presence in the game. Consistent chasing and high work efforts of Danny Louka and Sam Dobson energised the team with strengthening defence coming from Connor Epps and Thomas Finch. An early penalty saw
Canterbury regain a goal which was followed by further opportunity to close the gap, alas this was not to be with
Margate converting a penalty of their own at the other end. Chris Walker and Oliver Dunn gave spirited second half performances showing some nice touches on the ball with the whole team playing as a more committed and flowing game consistently pressing and making goal scoring opportunities (where was this team in the first half???) . Canterbury were again able to close the gap with a second goal for Jordan Baker however were unable to consistently repel the attacking play of Margate eventually conceding two further goals. Despite a final result of 2-8 all the
Canterbury boys should be proud of the character shown in the second half to brush themselves off and demonstrate the level of football they are so capable of.
MOTM: Danny Louka for determined play and consistent opposition marking.
TEAM: Connor Epps, Sam Dobson, Danny Louka, Oliver Dunn, Chris Walker, Thomas Finch, Joel Goldsack-Marsh, Jordan Baker.
28th October Div. Three Kennington Junior Colts 4 – 3
Canterbury Youth
A 12:30 kick off saw Canterbury Youth under 10 colts hosted by Kennington Youth on a rather wet and windy afternoon. Previous match results predicted this to be the close fought game that indeed developed.
Canterbury Youth were unfortunately only able to field the bare seven players so knew that little opportunity of rest would be possible throughout.
Canterbury showed a determined display of passing and running football and opened the scoring early after some smooth interplay between Joel Goldsack-Marsh and Jordan Baker resulted in
Jordan slotting home past the keeper. Kennington were then awarded a penalty following a hand ball decision which was saved by substitute goal keeper Oliver Dunn. This was proving to be a very even competition with both teams having opportunities on goal. Kennington duly equalised and then took the lead before Joel Goldsack-Marsh put
Canterbury on level terms going in 2-2 at the break.
The second half saw a deterioration in the weather however no dampening of the
Canterbury spirit. Despite Kennington again taking the lead Danny Louka, Connor Epps and Joel Goldsack-Marsh held a strong midfield with crisp service to Jordan Baker up front leading to a well deserved equaliser. Play remained evenly balanced throughout the second half with scoring opportunities at both ends of the park. Oliver Dunn gave a braveheart display of goal keeping and was strongly supported by the defensive play of both Thomas Finch and Sam Dobson. The
Canterbury midfield players and lone striker continued to create havoc in the Kennington goal mouth only to be denied by the wood work on more than one occasion. With only minutes remaining a long range effort from Kennington was unable to be held by Oliver with the ball finding its way into the back of the net. In the last minutes of the game the
Canterbury boys dug deep and were unlucky not to have again equalised with Danny Louka missing by mere inches.
MOTM: Oliver Dunn for a focused, determined (and vocal!) display in goal.
Players: Oliver Dunn, Sam Dobson, Thomas Finch, Danny Louka, Joel Goldsack-Marsh, Connor
Epps,
Jordan Baker.