A bitterly cold morning at Grace Academy Darlaston saw the Warriors play two games and again the team found them a tough proposition.
Our first match was against West Bromwich Allstars who displayed some good teamwork at the front. Two of their strikers were reading the game well. No. 6 caused Warriors loads of trouble in the Wyrley half. Nevertheless Warriors soaked up loads of pressure and had three lucky escapes. Meanwhile, WBA did not have things all their own way when Lewis came very close to scoring. This was a hard half and Isaac took quite a knock. However Warriors still had a clean sheet at the break.
The second half began in a similar vein when WBA’s No.6 broke through but missed and Carter kicked the ball out of play to prevent another attack. Unfortunately, a scramble around the goal led to the ball crossing the line before Hayden could kick it away. Then Warriors suffered a deluge of goals against them. First, WBA scored from a great cross and then several more due to our defensive weaknesses. Finally, WBA scored directly from a corner. Our best chance came when Harry broke clear but his shot was off target.
Our boys need to work faster against teams of this calibre and keep their positions – not all run for the same ball.
The second match was against FC Premier. Not downhearted, Warriors began a good fight. Premier were awarded a corner but Warriors stopped the ball and even though Premier were awarded two more corners they made no progress. Warriors had a couple of escapes but good passing by the opposition led to them scoring. Once again Warriors were a little slow to react. However, Lewis made a couple of good saves and when Isaac passed to Cole, he scored the equaliser.
In the second half, Carter stopped Premier attacking but when they were awarded a corner they took the lead once more. An equaliser was on the cards for Warriors but unfortunately the final whistle blew at the same moment as Isaac took a shot. Thats football!
Lee awarded man of the match to Lewis for his total commitment, especially in the first match and the match ball to Cole for his improvement as a team player.
Rob Smith