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Saturday 28th November 2009
Central 2 - 4 Heavitree Comets

A goal in each half for Central's Tom McShane kept the game even until the closing minutes when two late strikes by the Comets secured the points.

Saturday 31st October 2009
Beacon Knights 3 -2 Central

On a sunny and unseasonably warm Autumn day the Central boys arrived at the impressive Exeter Arena 'stadium' for the later than usual kick-off in confident mood following their terrific win over Countess Wear the previous week. Fortunately, we had a full team this week for the game against Beacon Knights and even had the luxury of having two substitutes!
The starting line up of Alex D in goal, Martin, Ben and Butta in defence, a five man midfield of Owen, Alistair, Tom, Oscar and Cameron with Charlie and Joe up front. The early stages of the game were quite even with both sides unable to keep possession of the ball, however Central gradually took control of midfield and started to create chances for Joe, who had a couple of efforts saved before he was sent clear and beat the Knights keeper to give Central a deserved lead. This stirred Knights into action as they started to press for an equaliser, the Central defence well marshalled by Martin and captain Ben did well to keep them to long range efforts. However the Knights pressure finally told following a series of corners an in-swinging corner scrambled over the line by a Knights midfielder. Not downhearted, Central fought back well and took advantage of a poor goal kick, when Joe was alert and too quick for the home defence to give Central a 2-1 lead at the break.
Second half substitutions were made with Jake and Alex S coming on for Oscar and Owen, however it was Beacon Knights who were the quickest to the ball in the early stages and were finding more space down both flanks and scored a second equaliser when the ball was pulled back for their tall striker to score. Knights continued to attack the Central defence and scored another shortly afterwards when a stinging shot was parried by Alex only to fall kindly to their unmarked centre forward to tap home the simplest of goals.
Central continued to threat on the counter attack Joe's pace causing their defence problems, he had a couple of good chances to grab an equaliser (and his hat-trick) but was denied by their keeper an then saw another shot go agonisingly over the bar. The overworked Central defence battled to contain late Knights pressure right to the end and the 3.2 score line was probably a fair reflection of the game. Once again the Central boys should be pleased with their overall performance against a team that was a league above them last season and they will have an early opportunity for revenge when we play them in the Cup in two weeks time.

Saturday 24th October 2009
Central 5 - 4 Countess Wear Dynamoes

The games against the Dynamoes have always been hard, in most cases over the years we have led but lost.

This year the league has scheduled games over the half term breaks which always causes problems with fielding a team. On the morning of the match I knew the maximum number of boys we would have would be nine!

My hopes were not high and the boys were offered the chance to concede the points and have an even 9v9 friendly game. There was no way they were going to have that and all chose to fight it out against the odds.

Maybe the opposition thought it would be an easy win - they were wrong! Inside a minute Central were in front from a tight angled shot. Everyone knew there were no fresh legs to come on later in the game and they were the team for the full game despite tiredness or small knocks. The Dynamoes struggled with the offside as we were only playing two defenders who worked excellently together to baffle the opposing strikers and outpace them as necessary. Countess Wear scored the next two goals with a long range strike and a scrambled goal. The opposition never got into a comfortable position with the pace of the game as the Central boys gave everything to pressure, tackle and outpace the opposition. The Reds rallied and scored twice more to lead 3-2 at the break.

At half time all the boys were tired. We had a small lead but would the numbers tell in the second half? We knew they would press hard after a half time talk and were ready for the pressure but the numbers started to show as they scored the next two goals and led after ten minutes of the second half. No one gave up. We were outnumbered in midfield and defence but pressed on looking for an equaliser and found one - followed shortly by another goal to take the lead! This was nerve wracking for the spectators who were distraught when a penalty was given against Central with less than five minutes to go. A draw would have been unbelievable before the match but now anything less than a win would be heartbreaking. The penalty was struck well but too straight and parried before it was cleared. The final whistle came and the boys celebrated an unbelievable win.

There were nine men of the match in this performance. Everyone gave their best - then gave some more. A couple of the team had not played a whole match before but dug deep and gave everything they could for the team.

There was never a gap of more than one goal and we were always in the game. The Central boys had nothing to lose and gave everything. Defensively we gave away as little as possible. Scott, Martin and Charlie were always outnumbered at the back but nearly always came out on top. In the midfield again we were outnumbered but Joe, Butta and Alistair pushed themselves harder than ever before to match the opposition and last the distance. Up front Edward and Tom had to work hard for their chances with less support than usual but scored when they could and tackled back when they had to. All this would have been for nothing if Alex had not pulled off a couple of spectacular saves and held his nerve for the penalty which would have lost us two points.

Central had no right to win this game but it was not luck - it was the efforts of the boys who went out and took it from the opposition and deserved to!

We will have disappointments later in the season when we lose games we feel we should have won. When that happens remember this game - I will.

Saturday 17th October 2009
Central 8 - 1 Westhill Wasps

As the West Hill team only turned up with nine players this was going to be awkward. Their manager offered to concede but we were there to play football so I offered to go 9 v 9. We still had the advantage of fresh legs to substitute on as required.

The Wasps goal was under attack throughout the game and with goals after 7 and 14 minutes the result was never in doubt. There were numerous attacks from the Central boys and we could have had more goals if our finishing had been better.

Alistair scored twice, Tom McShane twice, Edward bagged a hat-trick and Ben scored his first for Central.

It was nice to get our first win of the season but there will be much harder games than this over the coming weeks. Hopefully this will give us some confidence.

Well Done All!

Saturday 10th October 2009
Brixington 15 - 2 Central

This was always going to be a tough test for us against probably the best team in the league. With the Blues scoring two goals in the first two minutes everyone was worried that the scoreline could be really bad but ten minutes of hard work settled everyone down. This was a strong team to play and they scored some good goals but there were some Central break aways one of which had Joe Chamberlain through on goal before he was badly fouled by the last defender. This brought the first 'real' booking I have seen with the defenders name going in the referees book. Joe stepped up to take the free kick and lifted the ball over the keeper into the net for an excellent goal. Although we were 7-1 down at half time the fact that we had a goal gave us some heart.

The second half defence held better, this time it took them 14 minutes to score two goals but the goals came regularly until late in the half when Edward Taylor broke through their defence and put the ball past their keeper making the scoreline 13-2 at that point. Two goals in the last two minutes extended the final score to 15-2.

I don't usually name a man of the match because everone puts in so much effort but Tom Hart deserves special mention for the work he put in particularly in defending from midfield. It is not all about scoring goals, sometimes taking responsibility to stop the opposition is the most important thing for a midfielder to do.

Although this is a big scoreline the Central boys scored two goals against a very good team. No other team has done that against Brixington Blues for a very long time. A few heads went down at times during the match and I know a few of the boys were tired from school trips and sleepovers but there was a lot of effort put in by all the boys. There is no shame in being beaten by such a good team so long as everyone has tried their best. It felt like they had!

Saturday 19th September 2009
St Martins 10 - 1 Central

We were a bit ragged at the start of the game but this is to be expected in the first game of the season and with all the rule changes for this age group. There was plenty of effort by the Central boys and some excellent goal keeping by Alex kept the score to 4-0 at half time.

A goal shortly after the half time restart from Tom Mc Shane brought the score to 4-1 for a short time and we had further chances from Charlie and Scott who came close. Tiredness started to show late in the second half and a flurry of late goals extended the scoreline to 10-1.

There was plenty of effort from the Central team and we had some good chances. We have some things to work on it training and we will get better as we play more together as a team. There was some good play but we still need to work on the basics of passing, tackling and defending.

This was a hard start to the season against a good side. It should be noted that St Martins were playing very well and were second in the league and cup winners last year. Don't worry they will do the same to some of the other teams.

We seem to be short of numbers for the game next Saturday against Heavitree. I will decide on Tuesday whether we can go ahead or not and make sure everyone gets the message.

Saturday 3rd September 2009
Central Reds 3 - 3 Stoke Hill

Windy conditions made this a scrappy but exciting match. Central took good advantage of the wind in the first half with Tom Hart scoring after 9 minutes. The Central boys fought hard but Stoke Hill equalised against the run of play before Joe Chamberlain restored the Central lead late in the period.

The second half was always going to be tough playing into the wind but Central scored first after the break with Tom McShane going past the Stoke Hill keeper. There were more chances for Central but two late goals from Stoke Hill brought them back for a score draw.

Four of the six goals in the game were scored with the wind which is often the way on our pitches at King George if the wind is blowing. Neither team was able to pass well in the windy conditions but the Central boys fought hard and deserved at least a point from this match.

Well Done All.