The reds under 17's continued their unbeaten streak with a
comfortable 2-0 win over the baby blueshite at the Academy, in
a game played in extremely windy conditions. The wind was
so bad that it threatened to reduce the game to farce, and both
sides found it very difficult to get the ball down and play.
The reds were playing with the wind at their back in the
opening half, but failed to capitalise on it enough, and were
only one goal to the good at half time, courtesy of a wind assisted
goal from the lively Mark Smyth early on. The blues had
started quite brightly and went close twice in the opening minutes
from corners, but after that it was one way traffic for the
rest of the half.
For all their pressure though, Dave Shannon's side failed
to test the Everton keeper enough, and too often the final ball
was poor. Numerous set pieces were wasted, and the standard
of crossing was abysmal, as the youngsters struggled to adapt
to the gale force conditions.
The blues keeper was having all kinds of problems trying
to clear the ball, such was the strength of the wind, and at
one point he took a goal kick only to see the ball blow straight
back and end up going out for a reds throw in level with his
six yard box!
The wind played a major part in the opening goal, when Tim
Dittmer's clearance picked up pace on the breeze and went over
the blues defence for the pacy Mark Smyth to latch onto and
finish in some style. The blues back four had been stood
on the halfway line, which was always going to invite problems
with the wind being as strong as it was, but that's not taking
anything away from Smyth's excellent finish.
Other than that not much else happened, and it really was
a poor first half. Smyth had looked good, and Potter was
running the midfield, ably assisted by the hard working Carl
"Ged" Clampitt. The other player to catch the eye was
young Scottish winger Robbie Foy, who was full of pace and direct
running, not to mention plenty of tricks. He looks very
useful indeed.
With only a one goal advantage at the break, the second
half promised to be very tricky for the reds, as the blues would
surely make better use of the wind than Liverpool had done.
The unbeaten run could have been put under severe pressure,
but whatever Dave Shannon said at half time did the trick and
the second half performance was excellent. Everton were
hardly in it, and the wind was hardly a factor at all.
Potter dictated the game from the centre of the park, showing
an excellent range of passing, as well as some silky turns and
shimmies. He likes to put his foot in too, and looks to
be a very good player. With the likes of Michael Foley
and John Welsh in the U19's, and Potter and David Mannix coming
through behind them, the reds' academy teams are blessed with
some excellent central midfield players.
Potter was behind almost all the good moves put together
by the reds, and Mark Smyth seemed to be on the end of most
of them. He headed against the bar following and excellent
cross from the right (from Clampitt I think), and was a constant
danger to the blues defence all game. He's fast, skilful
and likes to run at defenders. He's got a great left foot,
and can play on the wing as well as up front.
That versatility is a feature of the under 17 side.
Most of the players can play in a variety of positions, and
both the strikers will alternate with the wingers. Stephen
Gillespie started on the right wing, but ended up switiching
with Matty Murray, and Smyth regularly interchanged with Robbie
Foy on the other side. Foy was also excellent, and it
was fitting that he grabbed the second goal, and what a goal
it was. Everton had a corner, but it was headed clear
to Foy on the edge of the box. He set off on a blistering
run which took him to the edge of the blues box, where he played
a lovely one two (with Potter I think) before casually lifting
the ball over the advancing keeper. A classic counter
attack.
Gillespie should have scored when played through by Potter's
excellent pass, but the keeper pulled off a smart save to deny
him, and Potter hit the post with a deep cross which deceived
the keeper. For his part, reds' keeper Dittmer had next
to nothing to do. This was mainly due to the solid performance
from the defence. Adam Flynn is rock solid, and is to
the under 17's what Stephen McNulty is to the U19 side.
Alongside him, young Jason Smith was making what I think may
have been his first start at this level, and he was very good
in everything he did.
I was told by someone at the academy last season that under
16's hadn't lost a game for a year. That team is now the
U17's, and they're unbeaten all season, so that would mean that
this group of players are unbeaten in almost two years.
An impressive feat indeed.
Team:-† Tim Dittmer, Andy Wright, Jason Smith, Adam Flynn,
Stephen Vaughan; Stephen Gillespie, Darren Potter, Carl Clampitt,
Robbie Foy; Mark Smyth, Matty Murray:
