Gloucester 2-5 Wolves
Team: Joe, Kyle, Ollie, Fabio, Aaron, Andre, Elliot, Ethan, Ricky, Beau, Prem, Max
Goalscorers: Ricky x3, Kyle, Max
A trip to Longlevens on a stormy Thursday night was the prize for the boys after beating Bootle in the last round. The fantastic facilities of Gloucester PSFA were being sorted by some wonderful volunteers when we arrived – it really is a special place to play district football. After the boys warmed up, we put black armbands on to remember a great man. Tony McGinn gave so much to Wolverhampton Schools FA over his years of coaching with the association and he will be greatly missed. The boys were determined to put a performance in for him.
The game started with us kicking into the extremely strong wind. Having said that, we had much of the play in the first 10 minutes of the game. Ethan was causing the Gloucester left back all sorts of problems down the right wing and it was a matter of time before he managed to pick out a pin point cross to Ricky, who made no mistake for us to take a well-deserved lead. 0-1.
Gloucester came back into the game and the wind made a huge difference to their attacks, with every goal kick travelling a huge distance to put pressure on our defence. Ollie was equal to every high ball and did a fantastic job in extreme conditions. Gloucester drew level with a direct free-kick that flew into the top corner. 1-1. They very quickly took the lead, perhaps against the run of play, when the Gloucester striker, took the ball down and hit a hopeful shot from well outside the box. It also nestled in the top corner, giving Joe no chance. Stunning goal to make it 2-1 to Gloucester.
We quickly gained the initiative back and were much more precise with our passing, knowing that playing the ball along the ground was the best course of action for the rest of the first half. Some lovely passing and a driving run from Aaron meant the ball fell to Ricky. With two players to beat, he turned on a sixpence and a stunning shot hit the top corner to make it 2-2. Half time.
We knew that the wind would be a factor in the second half as the Gloucester players tired. A small change to the system supported our attacks but also our defensive play. We quickly retook the lead when another driving run from Ricky left him an easy finish to complete his hat-trick. A stunning performance from the Trinity striker. 2-3. A fourth came soon afterwards in bizarre circumstances. Kyle went across to take a corner and as the ball floated in the box, it was taken by the wind and settled in the bottom corner, without a touch from anyone. The strangest goal Kyle will ever score, I’m sure! 2-4.
Domination followed from Wolverhampton and every Gloucester attack was quickly nullified by a combination of Ollie, Aaron and Prem, who put in his best performance of the season. Our fifth was scored when Gloucester, who were trying to attack with pace, meant that Max had a clear run through on goal. He trusted his unfavoured left foot (pleasing for his management team) and he was rewarded with a well-deserved goal and that wrapped up a fantastic victory for the boys. 2-5.
A quarter final tie vs Manchester or Kirkby awaits our amazing U11 team. Well done boys. It really shows how much we are improving and playing so well together as a team and more importantly, gaining lifelong friends who have shared amazing memories together! Thank you again to all parents for supporting – we couldn’t do this without you.