Match report to follow-

Central 1 Heavitree 2

Central u16s lost 2-1 to Heavitree, after a nervous start we settled and competed very well against one of the top teams in the league. We went 1-0 up thanks to Chris Cole after he forced the keeper into a making a mistake and tapped in from close range. Heavitree equalised just before half time in an evenly contested match.

In the second half the u16s took the game to Heavitree and we looked the most likely winners until late in the game Heavitree scored against the run of play to pinch the game.  We had some great performances today and the whole team takes great credit and confidence for the coming season.

Roger

Brixington Blues 2 Central 5

A solid performance today, Chris Cole scored the opener and then Tom Shaw added a second. Kurtis Hatch scored a good header to make it 3-0 before the blues pulled 1 back to make it 3-1 at half time.  We then scored the best goal of the game there was some excellent build up play with Tom Shaw scoring his second from outside the box.  Sam Ryder then scored to make it 5-1 before the blues got a late consolation goal.

Wotton Printers U/16s Devon County Cup

3rd Rnd

Central 3 AFC Plympton 1

The lads did Roger and Mark proud on Sunday morning in the 3 rd Round of the u/16s Devon County Cup, when they played at home again to AFC Plympton and took the lead when a free kick out wide left was nodded home by Will Potter ten minutes from half time, better was to come and when a few minutes from half time the Referee( who by the way had an excellent game) gave a free kick for handball outside his area by Plympton Goalie Andy Gould, Tom Shaw stepped up from the left edge of the area to thump an unstoppable shot into the net, it nearly took out two defenders on the line, a true thunderbolt, Central had been rewarded in the last ten minutes for all the possession that they had had in the first half.

Plympton changed formation in the second half and brought on a couple subs which seemed to spark them in to life, but Central still looked comfortable with Will Potter and Dean Davis mopping up anything Plympton threw at them and Tom Shaw causing all kinds of problems with his direct running and dribbling, but as is the case so often a team that did not look a threat for so long burst into life with twenty minutes left, a shot from the edge of the box was well blocked by Central Keeper Matthew Phillips and the rebound fell to Ben Wildman who rolled home from the edge of the area, suddenly Central looked a little stretched and the fact they had played two games in two days was catching up on them, and although Plympton had a couple of good chances it was Central who scored next when Chris Cole and Tom Shaw combined to set up Sam Ryder who blasted home from just inside the area when it looked as if the chance to dig the ball out might just go.

So two very different performances over a weekend with lots of good sportsmanship and respect shown towards each other, just how Youth Football should be, A special mention to AFC Plympton who were a credit to their league and Club, both the supporters and players.

Alan Sweet

Exwick 5 Central 4

Disappointing performance after last sunday, we took the lead on 3 occasions but sloppy defending and excellent finishing from Justin Dimock.  We started really well and took the lead  through Amro Omari, Will Potter then gave away a silly penalty to make it level, Tom Shaw put us back in the lead only to concede another sloppy goal.   We were playing some good football and took the lead again with a good strike from James Cowley from just inside the box. 

We then decided to throw away the points and conceded 2 more goals to go 4-3 down.  We got level through good pressure from Tom Shaw who pressed the defender and the ball went in, Toms claiming it.  We decided to give 3 points to Exwick after some poor defending from a free kick, we pressed hard in the last 15 minutes but could not get the equaliser, a hard lesson learnt today for our defence.