Super Sunday Round Up

By Sarai

AFC Stoneham Owls U8 vs Totton & Eling Youth All Stars

The grand revealing of the new player of the match golden boot trophy was revealed today, and the Owls all played their socks off to earn it.

Archie, Charlie and Max were solid at the back and strikers Ted & Vinnie carried a threat going forward. Brilliant cross field passes by midfielders Finley, Luca, Lucas & Tommy are becoming a feature of our play which is great to see.

It was end to end play, cracking saves, great strikes, and the Owls netted 3 by the final whistle.

MOTM goes to Vinnie for his attacking style of play and fingertip save when in goal.

Wolves U9

Looking to make it 3 in a row, the Wolves faced Fleming Athletic in character building conditions with both sides battling the rain as much as each other.

Our start was electric, Shay breaking forward from midfield to open the scoring within a minute. Jacob and Teddy held firm with some superb tackles to shut down the response from Fleming. Fyfe's measured pass out to the left found Mason who smashed his shot onto the far corner. Vinnie led the line brilliantly and made space for Shay, who charged through twice more to complete a first quarter hat trick.. Cohen came into defence; a new position for him and his positional sense was excellent breaking up play well. Louie commanded the centre, playing intelligent passes, one of which found Vinnie out wide who beat his man and squared to Fozzy who made no mistake. Fleming got one back before halftime but we were delighted with that first half.

With the rain coming down, the challenge was to maintain the level of performance and they Wolves did exactly that. Further efforts from Fyfe and Teddy left us facing 9 orange shirts going into the final 15 minutes. We rotated positions and this opened the game up dramatically and gave the boys something a little different. An attack comprised of our normal goalkeeper and centre half isn't the obvious choice but Jacob had two efforts saved off the line and when Jasper's chance for glory came he executed the finish like a seasoned striker. Fleming played some good football and grabbed 3 more goals towards the end to give them a bit of sunshine for their hard work but nothing was going to rain on the Wolves' parade today.

Another excellent display from the boys and pleasing to convert our chances today. Shay's dominant display and three goals earned him today's Man of the Match! Up the Wolves!

U12 Royals

Royals did really well today against a strong opposition, hat trick from Aiden, with assists from Nate.

Great teamwork from all players, great vision and belief.

Goals: 3 x Aiden

Assists: 3 x Nate

Joint MOTM: Vishal - fantastic saves and clearing his lines and Oakley for his great defending.

Star passer: Aiden (hat trick)

Leo: Captain

U13 AFC Stoneham Jaguars.

AFC Stoneham Jags 6 v 4 Southbrook.

A formidable performance from start to finish today from our Jags!

Starting with a strong & aggressive back five oozing confidence from their previous outings already this season, extinguishing any threat from Southbrook's in form striker and building play from the back.

This solid start allowed the midfield to take control and start creating chances up top. Egit notched one and then cooly finished from the penalty spot to take the Jags in 2-1 at the break.

A change in formation at half time opened up Southbrook, delicious assists from both Harry & Callum made it 1,2,3 goal, goal and an assist from the Jags no.10 adding Taylor to the score sheet with an athletic sprint to the back post and a sliding finish!

A couple in reply from a Southbrook team that weren't going to lie down meant the boys had to maintain their concentration and effort levels all over the pitch. Oakley was relentless sending chaos balls forward time after time. In the end the Jags energy paid off as another silky finish from Egit put the game to bed...

MOM - Egit.

AFC Stoneham U13 Wolves 6 West End U13 1

Wolves found a different way to win today… 2 – 1 ahead with momentum against us, attack became the best form of defence and the change paid off with 4 late goals.

This was an excellent result against a new and unbeaten West End side who had not even conceded a goal before today. They had done their homework on the Wolves and have early signs themselves of becoming a very good team. But Muhammed playing on the right wing for Wolves was a constant early threat today with several excellent crosses following runs through the outside right channel, while Talal was once again making telling through balls from central midfield. Mamadou was dropping deeper to turn more provider than finisher, although he was still on today’s score sheet along with Muhammed, Adam from the penalty spot and a determined Bobby who today scored twice.

I am pleased to say that tackles were won in midfield through Rayane, Ahmed and Jacob, where Frankie also continued his return to form, seemingly playing with more freedom.

Misha is rapidly settling into the team and made some strong contributions from his wide right position.

But, in spite of the scoreline, there must be a special mention for the back four and goalkeeper who all held firm under almost constant pressure for most of the second half. Dominik made two big saves at crucial moments, Jude always looked in charge of things and made a very brave block from an otherwise goal bound shot, Harry added more to his game by getting further forward in support down the right, Charlie was always confident and decisive in the tackle, but it was Dylan who gave a masterclass in how to disrupt play and make progressive passes from left back and he becomes our Wolf of the Week.

Three wins out of three in division 6 is an excellent start. Congratulations Wolves!

U15 WINCHESTER CITY RED 2-4 SHARKS

Okwin

Naderi (2)

Carlisle

PotM – Acharyya

PPotM – Naderi

Great result taking us to 2 wins from 2 games. That was a hard fought game and not the prettiest of victories but a greater desire got us over the line.

The first half saw Winchester playing the stronger better football which became apparent when they took the lead after only 5 minutes. Until the 30 minute mark we struggled to create any real chances until Naderi broke down the left wing cutting into the box near the byline and unselfishly played the ball back to Okwin was perfectly placed on the edge of the box – he didn’t need asking twice as he played his shot to the back post and in off it to draw the scores level. Unfortunately, we were then caught napping as Winchester went straight up the other end to score and restore their 1-goal advantage.

With more scrappy play in midfield it looked like we would go into half-time with a deficit until Naderi managed to break free and finished up one on one with the keeper – the outcome was a forgone conclusion with Naderi shaping the ball beautifully round the keeper for a his first of the match. We went into half-time with the scores level at 2-2.

The second half saw a much improved performance from the Sharks and accordingly we had more of the territory and the possession. The scores stayed level until the 60th minute when Elwill played a ball through to Naderi on the half-way line. Naderi still had a huge amount of work to do, beating two defenders and the goalkeeper, but he did both and found the back of the net for his brace. The next 10 minutes or so saw us create several chances but no manage to convert any of them. Then, Winchester seemed to gain control of the game for a 5 minute spell which put spectator’s nerves on edge.

Then with 3 minutes left on the clock Naderi broke free down the right wing and finished up one on one with the keeper again however this time the keeper made a brilliant save. The ball fell kindly to Carlisle who had a brilliant shot tipped onto the post by the keeper but again Carlisle acted quickest and popped the ball into the back of then net with the keeper having no chance this time.

All in all it was a scrappy affair but it was a stronger will to win shown by the Sharks which was the difference between he two teams in the end.

Parents decided that their player of the match, which was a close affair, should go to Naderi for his two goals and an unselfish assist. Coaches felt Acharyya earned their award for player of the match for the way he relentlessly shut down Winchester’s attacks down their left wing and swinging the game in our favour as a result.

Thank you to Winchester for a great game, which could have gone either way. We wish you the best for the rest of the season.

U18 Knights won 4-1 away to Romsey Town in the Hampshire Combination central division.

A brilliant performance against a good side and thoroughly deserved for the 3 points.

Some of the football we played was a joy to watch.

Two nil up at HT we then went to complete the job with another 2 in the second half with a consultation goal to Romsey. With a change of shape the boys responded and reacted well to the task of improving our defensive work.

Goals game from Ewan x2, Mitch and Dom.

MOTM goes to Dom.

An excellent performance in the middle of the park. Worked tirelessly for 90 minutes and never once gave up both in possession and out of possession.

Well done to everyone