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11/4/2010 Langho 4- 0 Rossendale Valley tigers.

The boys took hold of this game from the first to the last minute . Goals came from Matt S, Captain Jacob, Mash and another Oscar rocket which earned him the MoM award. I think Rossy had a few players missing due to the Easter break which made this fixture a lot easier than our first meeting. We also had players missing ,Will was asked to be the stand in keeper for the day and dealt with anything that came his way.

18/4/2010 Langho 3 – Lammack 4

The last game of the season and within a few minutes we were a goal down. Things slowly began to turn in our favour Matt S made it 1-1 and George put us in front at 2-1. Both goals were not our usual spectacular efforts more like scrambled over the goal line any way you can efforts. (they all count) 

Half time and Lammack brought on their customary second team and the game started to tip in their favour 2-2, 3-2 then 4-2. During this frantic period our MoM (Matt S) had to be taken off the pitch due to a blow to the ankle and also because his head was sinking into his neck, giving him the appearance of Craig Bellamy/Gladstone Small due to the amount of headers he was sending back into the visitors half from the pitch length goal kicks.

The result turned out to be of little importance to the boys,  as the season long  first headed goal competition took a dramatic twist at the death.

As Kammy our guest speaker at the recent sportsman’s dinner would say.Unbelievable Jeff. The boy Mashiter has only put the ball in the net with his head with the last goal in the last game of the season. The watching Lammack parents must have thought we had gone mad as Blandy the keeper ran the full length of the pitch to join the pile on celebration, even the usually reserved director and myself swapped our usual nod- slap on the back routine for an American style high five. Good times!!

Finally Langho’s Premier heating engineer and Director of football has had to part with the £10 , even though its kept in the family I’m sure he would agree its money well spent.

That’s it for another season, our form would have earned us a Champions League place in the non existent league and its been a lot of fun.

Finally good luck to GCLE who has decided to take a step backwards and join Preston North End next season(only kidding) It was always a pleasure never a chore,all the best from your friends at Langho Juniors Under 8 Blue.

Wolves, a very different animal!

Having beat Clitheroe 10-0 at The Rydings only a few short weeks ago the boys must have thought they were in for an easy ride. The pre match team talk consisted of us telling the team not to underestimate the opposition, this as per most team talks was ignored and the boys strolled onto the immaculate Clitheroe pitch thinking the game was as good as won.

10 mins in and the penny dropped, they were up against a very different team who seemed determined not to suffer the same fate as before. George missed a glorious chance only a few yards out  and this set the tone for the first half.

After the break we started to show what we are about and made a number of decent chances forcing the Wolves keeper to make some good saves. Mash scored our only goal with a strong run down the left and a good finish into the bottom corner. Clitheroe continued to push forward and cause us a few nervous moments. George executed a perfectly good sliding tackle in the penalty area taking the ball off the toe of the CW player, the ref blew his whistle but couldn’t decide why he’d blown it. Cue puzzled looks all round. I actually felt quite sorry for him as he didn’t know what to do next.  But after lots of dithering a penalty was awarded. Up stepped the CW striker who put his shot right down the middle and safely into Blandy’s gloves. Justice was done.

Langho stirred into action once more and went on the attack  the impressive Matthew Anderton skipping down the right and providing great service to the grateful front men, but whilst we committed boys forward a quick goal kick put the CW striker one on one with the injured Sam Hardwick and the ball hit the back of the net to draw the game. Sam was brave to carry on after his Tennis accident and shows just how much it means to him to be part of the team.

A much closer game, but in my humble opinion i think we just about shaded it. MoM  Matthew Anderton.

It looked like we were going to carry on  from where left off last week when George put the ball in the back of the net to make it 1-0 with 60 secs on the clock . Half the parents missed the first goal as they were  still slurping coffee on the Rydings car park. Captain Jacob made it 2-0 as he met a great Mash corner on the edge of the box and slotted it home.

Half time and changes were made, The Mill Hill manager must have stirred his boys up  as they went on the attack. The Langho boys failed to clear their lines resulting in the visitors first. The scoreline stayed at 2-1 until the very last moments of the game. Mash brought down one of the MH boys on what was the very edge of the penalty area,  others with a better view than myself suggested it may have been in the area, however this was immaterial as the MH player curled his effort into the top corner giving Blandy no chance of making a save. No complaints about the result,  we took our foot of the gas and MH were a very good team who came and played attractive football. MoM – Matt S.

FIRST IT WAS A BLUE MOON, THEN THE WOLVES CAME OUT.

On Friday the boys were invited to play Manchester City Academy at their Platt lane ground. We took 11 boys along and played 4 small games on the 3G surface. The boys did themselves proud against some top class players. They came away with a certificate each and also learned some valuable lessons in how the game should be played, could we take all we learned into our next fixture against Clitheroe?  Not half!!

 The boys seemed up for this game right from the off, you can usually tell if they fancy it or not within the first couple of minutes and we all got the impression they wanted to play and play with style and desire. From start to finish the Clitheroe keeper was bombarded with shot after shot. Goals came from George x3, Matt x 2, GCLE, Mash, Birthday boy Jacob, Debut boy Matthew Anderton. All the goals were well taken, some with moments of individual skill others as a result of excellent build up play and teamwork.

Anybody who watched our last game must have wondered how Oscar didn’t, A score and B smash the goal post to bits, well this week he succeeded were he failed last week. Playing as a defender he pushed up field were the ball was played back to him, he then hit what can only be described as a rocket, low and hard it flew in like an arrow. Had the post anchors not been in place i’m convinced the goals would have gone through the clubhouse window.

Great team performance with the MoM award going to George Ellison.

MATTHEW, FROM THE HALF WAY LINE, MATTHEW FROM THE HALF WAY LINE…..

The boys set off at a blistering pace for this encounter. In the past we have been guilty of starting too slow, not on this occasion 5-0 up at half time with goals from George x2, Jacob, GCLE and probably the best goal seen this season from Man of the match, Matt Stephenson.

Matt charged onto a loose ball on the half way line kicking towards the Whalley end and let fly with a stunning strike, whilst the ball was high up in the air and making its way to the goal (probably bothering local air traffic control) the director said. ” its going in that” and boy did it go in, no keeper in the world could have stopped it as it skimmed the cross bar and into the roof of the net. That alone would make him the worthy winner of the MoM award, but his all round game was as impressive as i can remember.

Half time and with things all but wrapped up we started our squad rotation policy with the boys leaving the pitch as a defender and then moments later being reintroduced as a striker.  Goalkeeper aside i think everybody played in every position, at times this resulted in a bit of chaos at the back and from this chaos Rossy Utd got a goal their second half display deserved.

Oscar was very unlucky not to score with a few efforts,  he punished the posts on more than one occasion.When the post weren’t in the way, Rossy’s stand in keeper was, he played a blinder. Rossy never gave up but the damage was done in that first 15 min spell,

FOOTBALL ON ICE!

The match was swapped to astroturf  which looked more like an ice rink than a pitch but the ref gave the nod so off we went. To keep things fresh we decided to swap things around and gave a few boys the chance to play in unfamiliar positions . Oscar was given his debut in the strikers role and Will C was started on the left,  both boys soon settled into the new roles in difficult conditions and put in fine battling performances.

The defence of Sam and Jacob  made it three games on the run without conceding a goal with the help of Blandy, who pulled off a great save from a fierce shot. GCLE made it 1-0 going into half time with a typical run and low hard shot into the bottom corner.

Second half, and more changes and another formation shuffle seemed to unsettle us,  prehaps to much tinkering by myself and the director  but its all good for the boys development. Rossy started to think an equalizer might be on the cards whilst we were still adjusting and put the defence under some pressure  forcing a number of corners. However just as the pressure was mounting the boys clicked into gear,  a quick throw by Mash found George  who managed to beat the Rossy defender for pace and took the ball from the half way line and smashed the ball into the top corner giving the Rossy keeper no chance of making a save. One chance one goal nuff said.

Without really getting out of 2nd gear the boys did enough, solid at the back and clinical in front of goal,  thats what made the difference on the day. MoM  Mash.

First headed goal update.

attempts on target – 0

attempts  off target – 0

Looks like the money is safer in the Directors wallet than it would be in Northern Rock, TSB . etc.

Nice to be at home and nice to be on grass again. The Blues are fast becoming the draw specialists with our second scoreless draw in as many weeks, however this one was more entertaining than the previous one. Credit must go to our keeper Blandy and the defensive partnership of Matt and Jacob, who kept a very strong team under control for the majority of the game . Everybody worked their socks off and with a little more luck and some better forward play we may have got something from the game.

Both teams had chances to win the game but for one reason or another the back of the net couldn’t be found. Mash had the perfect chance when the ball dropped to him 6 yards out on his trusty left foot, id already began my celebrations as i was sure there would only be one outcome. I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me to see his effort  go wide.  We found ourselves in a similar position later on in the game with the ball destined for the same player in a similar position , Oscar had other ideas and bulldozed his way past and had a crack with his left peg, as i said at half time, you don’t shoot,you don’t score.

MHW had quite a few chances themselves and one thing all visitors to the Rydings should be made aware of is, if your bearing down on our goal, make sure you have the ball under close control cause Blandy is like a caged tiger flying out of his box and clearing every loose ball. His efforts between the sticks earned him the MOM award.

We were awarded an indirect freekick in a great position which totally confused the boys who hadnt a clue what to do with it, as it turned out we kindly passed it back to MHW and another chance went begging ( note to self, explain direct indirect free kicks at training)

A draw was probably the right result , lets hope for a goal fest next week.

Well done boys.

Not a great deal to say about this one, switched to the AstroTurf at Pleckgate this was a game which was very tight in the midfield,  neither side were allowed to create any meaningful shots on goal. The boys were put under some fierce shall we say robust tackles and came out with flying colours, no tears or tantrums more Alan Shearer in his pomp than Didier Drogba. pick yourself up, dust yourself down and get on with the game, which shows they are all made of the right stuff.

MoM George Ellison