A good first morning for the Slazenger Boys U16 A team. Results as follows:
Slazenger 2 – 2 Doncaster
A slow start against Doncaster meant that Slazenger’s defence had to be sound. With Matt Feather, James Higgins and Rowan Tejura solid in the tackle and Ralph Toon awake in goal, they absorbed the pressure and gradually began to string passes together. A neat break down the right involving Aidan Hopkinson, Luke Gueli and Matt Stacey led to Rob Cann being free top D and he swept the ball past the Doncaster GK to open the account for the season after seven minutes. Doncaster renewed their pressure and within a couple of minutes won a penalty corner. The slaz runners closed Doncaster down quickly but the ball broke to the right and a Doncaster player drilled the ball right into the corner giving Ralph no chance.
The second half was equally give and take, with Slazengers being the better side for much of the first ten minutes yielding a number of clear cut chances one of which was converted emphatically by Alex Calderley, marking his first game as Captain. Within two minutes a swift Doncaster breakaway left them with a three on two. Ralph bravely dived to save the first hit but the rebound fell nicely for Doncaster’s Captain who had the skill to flick the ball past the dispairing Ralph into the net.Doncaster had the better of the last five minutes, but Slazenegr absorbed the pressure and defended stoutly, without conceding a further penalty corner. All in all a draw was a fair result against one of the leading teams from last year’s tournament and an encouraging start.
Slazenger 3 – 0 Bridlington
The second game was a more fluid and interconnected performance from Slazenger, who were too practised and skillful for a young Bridlington team. Plenty of chances led to well taken goals from Matt Stacey and Aidan Hopkinson in the first half and Isaac Fisher from a penalty corner in the second – its good to see the boys finding the target with such regularity early in the season.
Slazenger 3 – 0 Rotherham w/o.
With Rotherham unable to field a team, our boys came away with a total of 7 points from a possible 9 and a positive goal difference of 6.
