Match Roundup Saturday 17th January 2009

It was good to see the games were on this week after a frozen pitch meant last week's games had to be called off. Back at Cefn Onn School on a pretty wet morning but thankfully the rain held off for this week's games.

Heol Hir Black 2 - AFC Rumney 3

The extended break over Christmas showed a little in the first game of 2009 where despite starting pretty well the team went a goal down in the first half. Some great saves from Sam and good defensive work from Adam and Matt at the back and Gethin in the middle. Josef and Alice did well working the wing and Kyle and Liam were unlucky not to get a goal doing their best to create up front but just couldnt get a break. Two changes saw the birthday boys Tyrone and Lucas come on for Kyle and Adam and a little reshuffle of the team. Due to Rumney having no substitute today Adam helped them out and played the second half for them when they lost a player. The change made an instant impact with Tyrone scoring a great early goal to get us back in the game. Rumney did well to go ahead again and it took hard work and neat passing to create an equaliser. A great pass found Josef in space and he did well to hold onto the ball just long enough for Lucas to slip away from his marker and receive a tidy pass in a goalscoring position. No surprises when Lucas placed it under the keeper for 2-2. More good passing tried to create something but Rumney just got the better of the defense and Sam to take a 3-2 win and give us our first defeat in a little while.

Scorer(s) Tyrone 1, Lucas 1

Heol Hir Black 4 - Grangetown BC Claret 0

A sharp wake up from Rumney meant that the team needed to play a better defensive game to stop the first games of 2009 ending badly. A decent enough start with Liam on the right to give Alice a rest and Kyle and Tyrone in the middle controlling things. Some neat passing and hard work on the wings led to Lucas finding himself in space and able find the net through the keepers legs to take the lead. Good defending from Grangetown kept the score to 1-0 until half time and both teams looked a little off their usual game. The second half saw a few changes with Alice replacing Josef on the left wing, Liam taking over in goal so Sam could bolster the defense, Gethin replacing Kyle in the middle with Tyrone and Kyle filling the right wing position. Matt took a well deserved rest for the second half. Better passing and movement through the middle in the second half saw Kyle grab a well taken goal early on and soon after Lucas had a few attempts blocked so laid the ball off to Alice who finished beautifully making it 3-0. Tyrone finished off the scoring with an almost perfect copy of Lucas's goal finding a gap under the Grangetown keeper to give us our best result against them without playing to our full potential.

Scorer(s) Lucas 1, Kyle 1, Alice 1, Tyrone 1

Heol Hir Black 1 - Maindy Corries black 0

Three tough games this week and on past performances the toughest saved for last. Liam and Kyle started on the sideline both earning a rest after the Grangetown game and Alice and Josef took up their usual wing roles with Gethin paired with Tyrone in the middle and Matt and Adam at the back with Sam back in goal. A great start had it looking like an early goal might go our way but unfortunately we just couldnt find the net but neither could Maindy due to our solid defensive play from the whole team. End to end but still ended goalless at half time. The second half started with Liam replacing Lucas and Kyle on in the middle with Alice taking over at the back from Adam. There was what looked like gethin's first goal of the season after some excellent individual play gave him a chance to shoot but the ref rather controversially gave then disallowed. Josef played some great football for a while down the left and made a few great chances for Liam, Kyle and Tyrone but it was his shot across the goalmouth that hit the post which created the first goalscoring opportunity. Matt was quick to react and netted the rebound taking a well earned 1-0 lead. Maindy threatened but great defending from the whole team kept the score at 1-0 and earned them a decent win over a tough side.

Scorer(s) Matt 1

Man of The Match

As always another tough decision this week but for 110% commitment all over the pitch, great passing, solid tackling and two goals this week's Man of the Match went to the team captain Tyrone. Well done Tyrone and also to the whole team who keep making it a difficult decision every week.