| 12:00
1st October 2006 |
Competition: |
County Cup |
Away |
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Forest Glade U16 |
1 |
Romford Borough Youth |
6 |
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Better, Better & Best |
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A difficult
County Cup game away at Romford Borough started very badly when
two defensive slips in the opening minutes led to two decisive
strikes from Romford and a 2-0 deficit almost immediately. It
would have been easy for Forest's heads to drop and forget about
playing their style of football but that didn't happen. Forest
fought back hard and played some scintillating football that
deserved goals. |
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One move in
particular summed up the fast attacking and skilful play of the
Forest players. Tom Barley, from the middle of his own half,
split the Romford defence and led to Asa Dengel attacking down
the right wing. The Romford central defender was forced to come
across and as Asa checked his run. Alex Chapman from right back
overlapped. A simple pass saw Alex reach the byeline and put in
a cross to the six yard box. The cross was met by Grant Cumming
who directed it towards the corner of the goal but unfortunately
was unable to put enough power on the header and the Romford
keeper saved well. |
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Forest continued to
create chances by spreading the ball wide at every opportunity
where both Asa and Jack Hawthorn had the two fullbacks beaten
for pace. |
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The front three of
Forest looked a lot sharper this week. Grant Cumming in
particular was sharper than the Romford defenders winning the
50-50 balls and then doing the simple thing by passing to the
Forest midfield. |
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Unfortunately Romford
also had a pacey attack and a superb finisher in their centre
forward who when had two further shots from the edge of the
Forest area buried the ball in the corners giving Elliott
Thwaites no chance in the Forest goal. 4-0 down at halftime was
not deserved. |
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The second
half, like the first, started disastrously when within minutes
of the restart, the Romford striker was allowed to dribble the
ball from the centre circle, pass four rash challenges from the
Forest defence and sidefoot the ball pass Elliott from 8 yards
out. Within 10 minutes Romford scored again when Elliott was
beaten from 30 yards by a looping shot. But again Forest came
back and should have pulled one back when yet again a good
passing move, this time down the left, saw Jack send a cross
along the six-yard box which was met by Asa at the far post. His
side-foot shot grazed the post as it went wide. |
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More good play from
Forest continued to fail to reap the rewards it was due. But
with 15 minutes left Grant Cummings turned in the centre circle
and slipped the ball behind the right of the Romford defence for
Jack Hawthorn to run on to. This time he struck the ball well
across goal and the ball nestled in the far corner. |
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This lifted
the hearts of the Forest players and they continued to push for
more rewards. Alan Pratt took over in the centre of midfield and
continued to trouble the Romford defence especially when he
linked well with Alex and Asa on the right. Whilst the result
proved a disappointment the performance was a huge improvement
on the previous week. |
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One important aspect
of the game was commented on by the referee afterwards when he
came over to the team. He congratulated them on their style of
play and their sportsmanship. This is a reputation that the team
has earnt over the years and something that the team should be
very proud of. |
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Man of the Match
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Alan Pratt |
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