Youth Friendlies 15 August

Published on August 15, 2010.

Three youth friendlies today, with the Under 16 and Under 15 Kent Youth League squads visiting Cray Wanderers, and the Under 16 East Kent Youth League welcoming the Herne Bay Kent Youth League team to Sandwich. (The Under 18s were also due to visit Cray but the boys’ hopes of a game were dashed when Cray pulled out – luckily just before they got on the coach).

The Cray games saw the Under 16s narrowly losing 3-2 to Cray, in a game that could have gone either way, while the Under 15s won 4-2. Meanwhile, in Sandwich, the Under 16 EKYL team lost 4-0 to the Herne Bay KYL side.

Under 16s: Cray Wanderers 3 Ramsgate 2 (by Kev Powell)

The first half started with the Rams showing the superior quality of passing and ball retention and after going very close to opening the scoring on 3 occasions the deadlock was finally broken when a slide rule pass from Shane Mitchell split the Cray defence for Dan Todd to keep his composure before slotting the ball past the on coming keeper. Cray then came more in to the game and a wayward defensive pass led to their striker being presented with the ball in front of goal for them to equalise. The last 10 minutes of the half were very even with the Rams passing game not being as evident as it was early on and the long ball and fast breaking of Cray becoming more troublesome , with the arms and legs of Keeper Josh Mattless making some crucial saves.

The second half commenced with Cray now benefitting from a strong wind that had not been there 10 minutes before and, seemingly growing in confidence, they pressed to take the lead. Somewhat against the run of play the young Rams quickly broke on the counter attack and the strength and pace of Josh Twyman rifled home to restore our lead. Thereafter the wind and, to be fair, our inability to adequately deal with the long ball over the top contributed to Cray getting two late goals to secure the victory. A very worthwhile exercise with far more positives than negatives, we had 4 players on holiday which meant the rest of the squad had a tough pre season workout. Much of the football played by the Rams was of a very high order, with the recently merged sides looking very united; the game also pointed to some things for us to work on.

Next week we are back into London for a game with Phoenix Sports and hopefully another positive step on the way to the regular season

Back Row (L-R): Henry Piper, Jake Regan, Joe Thomas, Alex Miles, Josh Mattless, Nick Symaka, Josh Twyman and Triston Gordon. Front Row (L-R): Shane Mitchell, Ryan Freedman, Daniel Todd, Nick Dolan, Connor Barham.

Under 16s

Under 15s: Cray Wanderers 2 Ramsgate 4

Ramsgate’s U15s enjoyed their first trip away from home in this friendly against East Kent Youth League Champions Cray Wanderers. Ramsgate started strongly and immediately the up front duo of Mason Webb and Charlie Golesworthy forced saves from the Cray keeper. The Rams continued to pressure the Cray goal and were rewarded when a goal line clearance was deflected into the net off midfielder Jarrett Francis. Ramsgate maintained their good level of football throughout the first half and soon stretched their lead to four following some good flowing football and movement from the midfield of Jack Grainger, Josh Mcateer and Dominic Crawford, leading to goals for Mason Webb (2) and Alexandros Papadakos (1). Cray pulled one back before the break when the Rams were hit on the counter, but they were still leading 4-1 at the interval. Cray came out strong for the second half and were rewarded with a controversial free kick on the edge of the area, from which they scored, following what looked to be a good challenge by defender Sid Twelftree. This lifted the spirits of Cray as they started to put Rams under pressure, but some good clinical defending by Dan Barrett, Niall Turner and Ben Davis kept them at bay. Stand-in keeper Harry Kirkby pulled off a fantastic fingertip save tipping the ball over the crossbar to deny Cray the chance of drawing closer. The Rams settled back down and once again dominated the game with some tidy work from Ben Munday and Kane Rowland till the closing stages, finishing more than worthy winners with a 4-2 scoreline while playing some exciting football in what was a very pleasing outing for the Management Team and travelling supporters.

Squad line up: Back row (L-R): Ray Francis (Mgr), Foy Manoharan-Turner, Macaulay Durling, Jake Grainger, Sid Twelftree, Charlie Golesworthy, Harry Kirkby, Mason Webb, Josh Mcateer, Daniel Barrett, Lee Andrews (Coach). Front row (L-R): Jordon Box, Jarrett Francis, Dominic Crawford, Ben Davies, Alexandros Papadimos, Kane Roland, Niall Turner, Ben Munday.

Tags: Cray Wanderers, under 15s, Under 16s, youth

Youth Friendlies 15 August

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