Academy Matchday Report

U9s vs Airbus

It was nice to see what we have been working on in training starting to come out, Ethan was outstanding in goal, Noah and Jenson were also very strong in defence getting on the ball and trying to play out from the back which is super. Oscar also moving into space to get the ball from Ethan which is brilliant to see, Jack getting the ball and playing some nice passes through to the strikers and one playing some good one twos, Archie using his strength and skills to get into some really good positions and Alfie using his fast feet to create plenty of chances for us, work rate was good, team work also very good, if we can just be a little bit sharper when the ball goes out of play…when we have it and even more so when the opposition have the ball. Overall I was very happy with everyone’s performance.

Second game
Oliver made a few good saves, Mason did some good things in spells and made some good runs and tackles, Josh got in some good positions and had a few good runs.

All round was a great day for the young druids who enjoyed the competitive games against Airbus and had loads of fun and further development.

U11s vs Airbus

Airbus, for the first 8 minutes, had control of the game which kept our lads behind the ball and forced our keeper into multiple saves. Unfortunately we were beaten down the right hand side of our midfield and the Airbus winger cut inside about 10 yards out and hit a rifle of a shot which had plenty of backspin which beat our GK.

With the score at 1-0 we changed a few things round and the game ended up being end to end with lots of chances from both side but miss communicating from a couple of players allowed Airbus to take advantage of the mistake, 2-0. However after being 2-0 down our lads new that a goal could change the game so we kept pushing Airbus back and created a few opportunities but Airbus started to go down the other end and started to create an overload, which our defenders managed to get into them quick to slow them down, which allowed our winger to get back and intercepted the ball and drove us back up the pitch which created an opportunity in which our winger his a absolute brilliant strike straight into the top corner out of the goalkeepers reach and beaten by the power and accuracy, now that we got one goal back our lads were determined to get another goal and all defended and attacked in units and worked for one another which allowed us to take control of the game, after a scrappy battle for the ball in the middle of the park our young Druid Osian picked up the ball on the half way line and went on a solo run, running in and out of the Airbus players which got him one on one with the GK and using his composure he tucks the ball passed the GK into the bottom left hand corner and all the players went crazy as if they won the FA Cup and all the parents was pushing the team on to help get the next goal.

Unfortunately, we tried to put the pressure on for the last 2 minutes to try and get the 3 points but we will settle for the draw in what was an amazing game of football as we got a 2-2 draw. Lots of positive from an end to end game.

MOTM: all the players on the team deserve this award, cause each and everyone of them work there socks off and fought together to rescue a point. Not one player disappointed and was tough to select 1 player as man of the match.

Cefn Druids 2-2 Airbus.

U12s vs Airbus

What turned out to be a game of two halves. We started the game getting at Airbus and played the way we know we can with determination and an intense desire to press and cause problems as Airbus who are top of the league we knew we had to nullify them the best we can as this would be no easy game. I could not fault the lads performance in the first half as we conceded a goal but replied instantly with one of our own going in 1-1 at half time we played so well. When it came to the second half we just fell to two quick goals from some excellent Airbus play that really knocked our confidence but we tried hard but we didn’t get at them the same as we did in the first half.

The score line doesn’t reflect the way we played in the first half. We can take the positives from what we saw in that first half and it’s now on to the next game where we can keep trying to improve and build on this performance today.

U13s vs Airbus
Man of the match – Sam

The lads were well up for today and we worked hard from the start to nullify Airbus who started brightly on the attack. When they scored to make it one nil I was impressed with our determination to not drop the heads as we looked to put pressure on there backline with balls over the top. A brilliant taken goal by Theo to make it 1-1 in first half then an offside goal that Theo took could have put us 2-1 up at half time but we went in level.

Second half we pressed hard and engaged them head on and you could see there cracks appearing as we stopped them from really playing. Though we conceded from an indirect free kick which instantly followed with a Red card then was a tough 5 mins which saw Airbus go 3-1 up until a second red card for the young druids killed us off but we didn’t give up and kept trying though the game was very difficult to come back into. I hope the lads dust that result off and look forward to next weeks challenge.

U14s vs Airbus
Druids 2 Airbus 1

A very comfortable first half saw us dictate the flow of the game, control possession and defend well. Jack Cushley continued finding good spaces on the left hand side and made it count with a perfectly executed through ball for Harrison to slot home, 1-0. Harrison then found himself through on goal again just before half time, only to be taken down and Airbus reduced to 10 men. We were eager to push on from such a pleasing first half performance after the break but struggled to play our football in possession and didn’t do enough out of possession to control the game.

Airbus scored an early goal to level the game but we reacted well with Harrison putting us back into the lead with another well taken finish. We certainly weren’t at our best in the 2nd half but did enough to see the game through which means the boys deservedly remain unbeaten in 2023.

MOTM – Jack Cushley

U15s vs Airbus

A 2-2 draw in the end which I think was a fair result. I thought all the lads were brilliant today! Every single one of them had to put a shift in and they did it. Good solid team performance and they stuck together which is what I asked before the game.

With injury and illness we were down to bare bones and only the keepers to change! Considering Airbus had good depth and could bring fresh legs on I thought we matched them well. Happy with the point!

Here is Cefn Druids Team of the week. A big well done to every player mentioned below who have worked hard all week in training and there matches this weekend. Keep up the hard work