Under 11's Whites Reach Cup Semi

Posted at 16/03/13 - 12:10 AM

One goal signals win for WUFC White Under 11’s in SSYL Deben Cup Quarter Final game.

 

A second half goal from Peter Mahoney led to a 1-0 victory in a highly entertaining and hard fought encounter with the South Suffolk Youth League Division 1 side Hadleigh United on Saturday 9^th March 2013 at a very soggy King George V Playing Field.

 

Many speculated that the Hadleigh side with no pressure on them  could lead to the Whitton boys losing out on making their way to the semi-final, however, the boys obviously listened to what was being said to them by Manager Alan Squirrell and Coach Barry Pennock before the game, from the minute the whistle was blown the boys applied the pressure and didn’t give Hadleigh Utd many chances to pass the ball around and get their game flowing.

 

WUFC U11 White who currently sit 4th in Division 3, lined up in a 4-3-1 formation with Callum Sharman leading the line and being supported by Jadyn Pennock and Aidan Whight from the wings. Peter Mahoney was instructed to hold the midfield in front of a back four of Jack Pengelly, Ashley Milton (Captain), Coby Wright and Sebastian Falcucci.

 

Hadleigh Utd started the brighter and spurned several good opportunities, however WUFC goalkeeper Max Britton put up a good show early on and once settled in Max made some magnificent saves throughout the rest of the game. That boy never ceases to amaze with some of his saves, he must be double jointed! (He obviously took no notice of the hopless ex goalkeeping failure Jawa Tacey who gave him a coaching session midweek)

 

WUFC stood their ground well throughout the whole game, the back four:

Jack Pengelly was yet again strong and decisive and as we all know Jack never backs down from a challenge, Ashley Milton who was made Captain for this game set his stall out early on and lead by example, never giving up on any ball that came his way which earned him Man of the Match on this occasion. Coby Wright, again, had the same mindset as he has every week he plays, covering well and keeping the back four in a decent line which caught the Hadleigh squad off-side a few times. Sebastian Falcucci who gives his all week in week out, with the heart of a lion, again, he had a solid game.

 

Centre mid, Peter Mahoney, as we know never stops running and covered every blade of grass in this position and he eventually reaped his rewards by scoring the winning goal in the second half, well deserved.

 

Wingers, Jadyn Pennock and Aidan Whight, both lads worked hard standing their ground when the tackles were flying in and stopping Hadleigh Utd’s wing men when they could. On the other hand Hadleigh Utd were not giving them any time on the ball whatsoever which stopped Jadyn from tearing up the wing, cutting inside and letting loose with that cannonball shot of his which we all know him so well for, they also kept the fast paced Aidan under control, Aidan can normally terrorise the opponents wing men but Hadleigh kept him at bay.

 

Striker Callum Sharman, fast paced again and great close ball control, Callum worked hard for the team and laid off some brilliant balls to his midfielder and wing men but they just didn’t fall for him coming back.

 

The half time talk from the Manager and Coach asked for more of the same from the players with plenty of encouragement to keep up the good work.

 

Substitutes Jensen Squirrell and Sam Hiskey were given their opportunity to shine in the second half, Jensen had been ill all week however he was desperate to play and came on to replace Aidan on the right wing and put in a solid performance. Sam replaced Callum up front later in the second half and carried out a sterling job again, laying the ball off, chasing back and working hard for the squad.

 

Jack Pengelly was starting to struggle in the second half, he had taken a heavy tackle during the game and the effort he had put in in the first half started to take its toll, time for a change, Jadyn switched to right back, not his favourite position but what a difference it made, with the ground being so heavy from the recent rainfall Max was struggling to get his goal kicks a good distance so Jadyn took over for a while, this enabled the squad to produce some good attacks from the wingers and striker due to the goal kicks coming a good distance, taking out Hadleigh’s strikers and midfielders.

 

Then comes the goal, a goal kick from Jadyn, the ball eventually got to Jensen who picked the ball up on the wing skipping inside through a couple of players with some good ball control, laying it off to Peter who decided to test the keeper with a shot, the ball slid under the keeper and into the back of the net! The boys were overjoyed! 1-0

 

Time to really put the effort in, the goal had come with approximately 10-15 mins to go to until full time, Hadleigh came at us with everything, even the goalkeeper came up for a corner in the last 5 mins! but to no avail, the boys dug in and you could see that they were not going to down without a fight this time!

 

Well done boys, you deserve it, keep it up!

 

We meet Capel Plough in the semi-final (date TBC), unfortunately one of our recently signed players Lewis Jones cannot play in this competition as he is cup tied, myself along with everyone else at WUFC would like to take this opportunity to welcome Lewis to the squad and we hope he enjoys his time with us.

 

 

Alan Squirrell

Manager

WUFC White U11

Author: Alan Squirrell