Phoenix Sports U16s 0 Rams 1

On Sunday the Under 16s travelled to the London border to take on Phoenix Sports from the very strong Northern Division. The result was a very hard fought 1-0 victory, but the positive pointers for the new season were the biggest plusses from the day.

The management team set a specific “clean sheet” objective for the team prior to the game and asked them to incorporate some tactical defensive changes that had been worked on in training.

The match started with the young Rams playing the better football against a very talented and robust Phoenix side, but the game was overall evenly matched and chances were few. The Rams had the 2 best chances of the half with George Stannard narrowly lobbing over and Shane Mitchell toe poke past the keeper just being diverted inches wide.

Soon after half time Shane Mitchell, again chasing a seemingly lost cause, challenged their defender trying to see the ball out and, slipping it past the defender, fired home with the help of another defender trying to stop it from going over the goal line.

The game continued in this fast and physical way, the young Rams showing great strength and above all superb discipline in keeping their shape and composure. We had a couple of decent chances to increase our lead with Nick Dolan firing just wide after a searing run down the right flank, and half chances falling to Stannard, Josh Twyman and Jake Regan.

The defence and midfield in the mean time were working tirelessly to keep the lead intact and a double save from Josh Mattless and last ditch tackles from Glen Scott and Joe Thomas typified the desire of the team.

The signs look good; we played 4-4-2, 3-5-2 and some 4-4-1-1 during the match, but systems are irrelevant if the work rate, team spirit and desire are in any way lacking, and they certainly were not in this game. We sat the team down after the game and told them how pleased we were with the performance and what a great effort it had been. I said to them “you don’t seem very excited or seem to have much to say about the victory”, their answer to me was “we are too exhausted to speak at the moment” (edited version). Fair play to them I say. Kev Powell (Manager)

Ramsgate squad: Josh Mattless, Joe Thomas, Connor Barham, Henry Piper, Nick Symaka, Glen Scott, Ryan Freedman, Alex Miles, Nick Dolan, Jake Regan, Josh Twyman, Shane Mitchell, George Stannard, Dan Todd and Connor Armstrong.

Tags: youth