Season Review So Far…
Much like the end of last season it was a struggle to get a full team together for the first few games of this season. We played a few matches with 10 men and a couple with 11 and no substitutes. Although our performances were good, it was hard to compete when other teams could bring on fresh legs or have that extra person on the pitch.
Luckily this didn’t last for long and in the space of a couple of weeks we went from having a small 11 man squad to a strong squad of 16. What a difference this made! I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the players who have stayed with us from an early age, for keeping the foundations of what is a quality squad, and also the new players that we have signed this season, for bringing a new energy to the team. If this bunch of lads can stick together, I don’t think there is any end to what they can achieve.
We’ve had everything this season and we are only 11 games into it, including cup games. We’ve had undeserved defeats, lucky wins, world class penalty saves by our keeper. We’ve had last gasp goals, 9 home games on the bounce but what we haven’t had yet is a game called off for bad weather. I wonder how long that will last…
Highlights so far…
A thrilling cup encounter against Morpeth Lions. Having gone 1 – 0 up in the first minute of the game, it only took us two minutes to go 3 – 1 behind. In previous seasons this might have been a cue for heads to drop, but not in this game. After the half time break, a spirited Wideopen team scored two finely crafted goals to take the game to extra time. 3 – 3 and it was ours for the taking. A minute into extra time and it was 4 – 3 to Morpeth, but we held our nerve and got the equaliser in the second half of extra time. So to penalties it went. With most penalty shoot outs you expect the keepers to be pulling the ball out of the net more times than not. Not in this one, we had high, we had wide, we had planes trying to dodge footballs at one point. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our day and we lost 2 – 1 in sudden death, but what a game it was to watch!
With us its not necessarily the games that we win by a few goals that we remember, it’s the games where we’ve played out of our skins no matter what the score was. An example of this was when we played Bedlington Juniors Blades in the league. I can honestly say, the football we were playing on that pitch was immense. The ball was fast and accurate on the deck and everybody was working hard for each other. There was excellent communication and a desire to play football how it should be played. Unfortunately, we couldn’t seem to put the ball in the back of the net and it ultimately cost us.
Another fine performance came against Tynemouth United. The football was superb, but again we couldn’t find the net. We were trailing 1 – 0 for most of the game but deserved to be ahead. We had numerous opportunities to score but their keeper was in fine form. It wasn’t until the last 10 seconds of the game, when all the pressure finally gave us some reward. The whole team went up for the corner except the keeper. It was last gasp stuff and time was against us. A quality delivered ball into the area and after small game of football tennis in the box our centre back blasted the ball home. 1 – 1 final score and again a fantastic game of football. If you are reading this and want to see the drama and excitement that happens at all of Wideopen under 12s games, please keep an eye on our fixtures on this website and come along to support the guys. You’ll not be disappointed but you won’t stop talking about it!
Keep checking this page for match reports every week as I intend post them after every game.
Keep up the good work lads,
David |
