Hemsworth MW U19s 2:1 Pontefract Collieries U19s
Northern U19s Alliance
Thursday 18th November 2010

The U19 Academy side lost a close game at near neighbours Hemsworth due to defensive errors, but will have taken a number of positives from an improved performance.

Manager John Redford asked for a reaction from his players following their disappointing previous performance in the Reserve team, and the need for his team to show their depths of character was heightened in the opening minute of the match, when the normally safe-handed Tom King allowed an innocuous free kick to escape his grasp for the opening goal. Although the team appeared visibly rattled – and Hemsworth were duly emboldened by being gifted an early advantage, the team gradually fought their way back into the match, and dominated the last 35 minutes of the first half.

During those opening minutes, however, the team could have fallen further behind, but for a more typical point blank save by King, when a second goal seemed inevitable. The Colls team had to wait for the eighth minute of the match for their first sortie into opposition territory, and it almost resulted in a spectacular goal for the immensely talented Keiran Wright, who cut inside from his berth on the right, beating two men with delicate footwork before chipping an audacious shot inches wide of the upright with the ‘keeper stranded. The effort from Wright awakened his team, who started to exert some control and show some ambition. Their positive intent led to an equaliser, as Hassan Ahmed broke clear of his marker and held the ball up as his team-mates poured forward in numbers. It appeared that the move had broken down but Ryan Robinson – echoing the attacking intent of his opposite full-back Wright – worked hard to retrieve the ball before turning towards goal and neatly side-stepping three challenges and crashing home a thunderous shot from 25 yards, despatched into the corner of the Hemsworth net. It was a goal of which any international midfield maestro would have been proud – let alone a young full-back!

Hassan Ahmed continued to threaten the home side, and minutes after playing a role in the first goal almost set up a second, as he capped a fine run by laying the ball back into the path of Callum Green, who curled a fine effort inches wide of the far post. The game had truly woken up, with both teams taking the game to the opposition, although the visitors were increasingly dominant as the half wore on, with Green and skipper Tom Foy battling bravely in the middle, and Jack Hill complementing Warren Redford in attack with a solid display of the strikers art of holding the ball up for team-mates to join in. As the game passed the half hour mark, Pontefract enjoyed the best move of the match, with Foy pulling the strings as the team played the ball around with their characteristic brand of one- and two-touch football. As Hemsworth chased shadows, the move – which must have involved 20 successful passes – culminated on the ball being slipped through to Warren Redford, who lifted his effort over the keeper and the crossbar. A terrific piece of trickery from Robinson saw him beat two players before releasing Ahmed, although this time the move came to nothing as the winger was smothered by a trio of Hemsworth defenders. In the following attack Ahmed beat his man before shooting wide at the near post, put off by the close attentions of a Hemsworth centre half.

At the interval, Pontefract’s would have been the happier dressing room, as the home team’s early dominance seemed a distant memory. Certainly, the team had displayed the character and temperament that Redford and his assistants – Chris Kirby and Joe Milner – had demanded from their charges.

However, the second half display was not so impressive, and the game was far more even after the break. Defensive indecision following a throw in allowed Hemsworth space in the box to smash home a second goal, although Ahmed responded by sending a curling shot crashing back off the far post. Following a series of substitutions from both sides, the game settled down, with both teams intent on attack, but Hemsworth creating the better of the openings – the best of which was smothered by King as he rushed from his line to cut out a dangerous through ball. With Aaron Carragan and Ahmed swapping flanks, and Ryan McDermott up front alongside the younger Redford as Jack Hill moved back to his more familiar centre half berth, the team posed a different set of questions for their markers, but were unable to carve a decisive opening for an equaliser.

Despite the disappointing result, there were many positives from the performance, and the management team will be pleased with the response from his team, and encouraged by the football they played for the last half hour of the first half and in patches throughout the rest of the match. There were flashes of brilliance from both full-backs, Tom King showed remarkable courage to put his early howler behind him with a decisive performance thereafter, Foy and Green were industrious in the centre, Carrigan and Ahmed dangerous throughout, with Warren Redford and Jack Hill also showing good touches. However, his pleasure will be tempered by disappointment in the result and it’s chief causes – lapses of concentration, and wastefulness with the ball. The players repeatedly working their socks off to retrieve the ball, only to squander possession immediately with wasteful passes. If the team can cut out these wasteful tendencies, they will start to carve out the results that their abilities – and certainly their attitudes – deserve.

Pontefract Collieries:

Tom King, Keiran Wright, Ryan Robinson, Grant Chapman (repl. Ryan McDermott, 62 mins), James Jenkins (repl. Karl Abbott, 55 mins), Tom Foy (capt), Aaran Carrigan, Callum Green, Warren Redford, Jack Hill, Hassan Ahmed

 Sub not used: Jamie Robinson