Match report - Bideford Blues!!

It was a sunny and breezy day that greeted the undefeated Bideford team to King George V playing fields this morning for our league fixture with them. 

We had our full squad back and fit for selection and we also welcomed Sam Winton to the match team for the first time. It was great to see all the boys focused and ready to play during our warm up routines. 

This was a tough match boys and you all applied yourselves brilliantly to the task. 

We were unlucky I felt to go down 2-0 in the first ten minutes but their second goal especially was a skilful shot from their impressive number 3. 

They say that the spirit of a team is tested when the chips are down and it was great to see how we continued to press and push forward as well as defending heroically. 

This eventually bore fruit when Dan was able to get a snap shot away and take us into a half time break 2-1 down. 

Will A came off at half time after a strong defensive first half, as did Joe who again impressed on the left wing. 

The second half was also a great half of open football where Bideford went onto score another 4 goals. However it was spirited City team, you held your nerves and did not let heads down boys and this was great to see. After a few nice runs down the left wing Ryan scored a well-deserved floating goal, using the prevailing wind and showed nice skill. 

We also saw an impressive debut performance from Sam W who linked nicely down the left wing with Sam P who had moved into a left midfield position which worked really well and we really deserved our third goal finished by Sam P. 

So the final score of 6-3 to Bideford is a credit to us boys, they are a very strong team but we gave them a good game and it was great to hear their coach at the end say that it was their hardest match so far this season.  This was praise indeed. 

The parents Player of the Match went to Sam R who as well as leading from the front as captain had a strong match in goal, showing ever increasing confidence and skill. 

Well done Sam and well done for being such a good captain. The armband will be passed on at midweek training. 

Speaking of training, the focus from today that John and I would like to work on is defending from set piece plays and in match communication and organisation. 

Our run of tough matches continues and we welcome West Exe to KGV next Saturday. I hope we will be back on the larger pitch again and this should be another close match. 

Enjoy your weekend and see you on Wednesday 

Mark (ably assisted by Jack!!)

Saturday's match against Bideford

Hello everyone,

Isn’t it nice to have a week without much rain and not having to worry about the fitness of the pitches at KGV! 

We had a good mid week training session and hopefully this will set us up well for our big match tomorrow against Bideford. 

Just to recap, on Wednesday we focused on defending and attacking corners. 

We agreed that when defending corners it is really important that we have strong communication from the goal keeper and that we ensure we remain goal side of any attacking players. 

When attacking corners we agreed that Will P will continue to be the primary corner taker. He will indicate when he is about to take the corner. 

One arm up = coming in fast and low 

Two arms up = coming in head height. 

We also worked on a nice short corner move with Cameron dropping in to give Will P another option.

This is good work boys.

Bideford are the only team in the league that remain unbeaten and are clearly going to be a very tough test for us.

I am really pleased to confirm that Sam W and (hopefully) Ewan have signed up now for our team and should be available to play for us.

This will give us more options in all parts of the field and also mean that we can rotate players more which I think will serve us well. 

The starting team for the match on Saturday will be: 

Goal Keeper – Sam R 

Defence – Sam P, Cameron and Will A 

Midfield - Joe, Will P, Dan and Julen 

Attack – Alfie W 

Starting Subs – Ryan, Oscar, Alfie R, Sam W

Just to confirm that it will be a 10:00am warm up and match preparation ahead of a kick off at 10:30am. 

Come on Central!! 

Mark

Reflections on Saturday's match!

Hi everyone,

It was great that we were finally able to take to the grass this year for our league match with Okehampton on Saturday and whilst it was a very physical and bruising encounter I thought that you played with such passion and energy that you should be really proud of yourselves. 

I don’t have the eloquence of Jonathan to write such a comprehensive overview of the match (would welcome any offers to write future match reports please!) but suffice to say that all of you in the team gave 110% and I felt did really well for the whole of the match. 

The starting team set up was a change from our normal formation to accommodate the planned absence of Dan, we also lost Alfie Ramsey at the last minute, this meant we had only one substitute, so all credit to the team for such a spirited performance. Special mention to Joe D who bravely started the match despite carrying an ankle injury, however Joe had to come off after 15 minutes as it was too painful to continue. 

Well done Joe and thanks for staying on to cheer on the team! Okehampton were a strong team boys and they posed us a challenge throughout the game by playing their strikers so deep into our half. They were a physically strong team and many of the players had to put in tough challenges time after time, i am sure there were some tired and bruised legs over the weekend. I felt that we were unlucky to go into half time a goal down after all the pressure that we had absorbed, but games like this are really tight and are won and lost by small margins. 

We had a lot more possession in the second half and came so so close to scoring a goal or two, Alfie W’s stunning header from a Cameron free kick would have been an outstanding goal but alas it missed by inches. Ryan also had a couple of efforts on goal which if they had been converted would have been outstanding goals. 

 We saw a strong captains performance from Sam R in goal, outstanding defensive performances from Sam P, Will A and Cameron. The midfield team adjusted well to missing Dan and was a great credit to Alfie for dropping back into this role with Will P, Julen and a spirited performance for 45 minutes from Oscar in this unfamiliar role. Ryan upfront also had a tough challenge facing Okehamton’s strong defence. 

 Well done to Oscar for being nominated the ‘Parents player of the Match!’, it was well deserved and is reflecting a real improvement in his all round game, well done Oscar.

 In summary a really positive and solid performance against a strong team and whilst loosing is never easy, I thought we should be very proud and positive as we move into this busy start of the season. 

Next week we play Bideford. As I indicated on Saturday I am hopeful that this will be at home (KGV) but this is subject to pitch availability. This will be another very tough challenge, but we will have Dan back so lets talk on Wednesday about how we set ourselves up for this match.

 Training on Wednesday will be a chance to refresh attacking and defending corners and practising throw ins. 

See you at 6pm. 

Well done everyone, see you on Wednesday 

Mark

** Midweek update **

Another great training session last night. I know that the mid session drills about running with the ball were quite tricky and some found it easier than others but it is all good training.

 It is in this setting that we can practice and make good those skills that we can then use in games. Practice makes perfect as they say!! 

I start this midweek update with some sad news in that Julen (and Jonathan) will be leaving Central City at the end of the season as they are relocating to Cambridge, Jonathan has an new exciting role with the university. 

I am sure you will all agree that this will be quite a blow to our team and we will wish them every happiness in their new chapter. 

 Julen will continue to play for Central until the end of the season and hopefully in the summer tournaments. 

However Jonathan will not be able to be on the touch line as much as he would wish. This leaves the need to see if anyone else would be happy/willing/able to take on the role of writing the match report. I am sure you will agree that Jonathan has set a high bench mark, but would be grateful of anyone taking this on. Any offers grateful received!!

As I type the plans for Saturday are that we will play at HOME against Okehampton on Saturday. 

We have confirmed a pitch at KGV and the only thing that can spoil this is the weather. If the pitches are not suitable (inspected on Friday) then we might need to switch to play at Okehampton but I will confirm either way by text. 

The starting 9 for the match will be: 

Goal Keeper – Sam R © 

Defence – Sam P, Cameron & Will A Midfield – Joe, Will P, Alfie W & Julen Striker – Ryan 

Starting subs: Oscar & Alfie R 

You will see that we are missing Dan on Saturday due to other commitments so have had to juggle the midfield and striker positions a bit. 

As is now our style of play we hope that this will offer us a strong and solid defensive set up but at the same time a quick and dynamic attacking formation when we have the ball. 

We will be looking again for players such as Sam P and Cameron to be quick to push forward in attacking play and utilise our speed and strength from set piece plays. 

Sam Richeson has been handed the captains arm band for the next two matches. Sam has applied himself well to training and to matches and has been a very solid and reliable member of the Central team throughout this season so far, well done Sam. 

Okay subject to the weather and fitness of the pitches I will see you at KGV on Saturday for a 10am warm up and match preparation. 

Cheers 

Mark 

 PS – Please don’t forget the race Night on Saturday, sadly am not able to make it due to work commitments, but I hope some of you will be able to go, it is meant to be a great night, a nice fund raiser for the club and fun night for all the family!!

Mid-week training focus

Hi everyone Weather looking good for tomorrow evening, be great to see you all there. The focus for the midweek session will be running with the ball. Sounds easy but will be good to practice this skill under pressure as you would in match situations. See you tomorrow at 6pm at St Lukes Cheers Mark

Top Ten City Overrun Lympets

After an enforced winter break of 2 months, Central City finally got back to playing a competitive match, albeit on astroturf, and ran out comprehensive 10-1 winners against Lympstone Lympets in windswept conditions.

After the deluge of rain in recent weeks, City racked up a deluge of goals, scoring 5 in each half. Despite the adverse conditions, City played some delightful football with excellent passages of passing and movement and some clinical finishing. It was a scoreline which in no way flattered the visitors and only the woodwork and a quite brilliant second-half save from the Lympets 'keeper prevented City from inflicting further damage.

Having not played a competitive match since before Xmas, it was a surprise when City fell behind to an early goal, the Lympets forward taking advantage of a clearance from the 'keeper which got held up in the wind. Less than 60 seconds later, City were level with Alfie W notching the first of a personal quadruple. As the half wore on, City gradually dominated and a brace from Cameron, another Alfie W shot and a cute finish from Joe meant City went into the break 5-1 to the good.

The second half continued in a similar vein, Alfie W soon extending the lead, but with despite several chances coming and going, the scoreline stayed at 6-1 going into the final 15 minutes. City then rattled in 4 more goals, Dan getting the final touch to a scrambled effort, Cameron firing in from distance for a superb hat-trick, Alfie W claiming his 4th with a low shot across the 'keeper before a mis-hit shot from Julen was helped into the net by a Lympets defender to round off the scoring.

All in all, it was an outstanding team effort with City always trying to keep the ball on the ground, passing to feet and making some delightful moves down both touchlines. City were always quicker to the ball, anticipating well and breaking forward at pace. For once, it was a performance matched by fantastic finishing and was ample reward for all the indoor training of the past few weeks.

Man of the Match went to Julen for the ultimate captain's performance, combining some lovely intricate wing-play full of flicks and tricks but always looking to set up a teammate and create chances. Well done Julen!

Saturdays Match at Okehampton!

Thanks to everyone for being so flexible and accommodating with all of this awful weather. 

Whilst I am sure we would all rather be playing at KGV this weekend the pitches are still underwater and not fit for play. 

Okehampton have kindly offered to host us, it was a lucky pitch for us earlier in the season so lets hope it will be this time. 

Heavy rain is forecast overnight and into the morning so we will need to be prepared for heavy playing conditions and lots of mud!! 

 So the starting team will be: 

 Goal Keeper – Sam R 

Defence – Sam P, Cameron and Oscar 

Midfield – Joe, Dan, Will P and Julen © 

Striker – Alfie W 

 Starting Subs – Ryan, Alfie R & Will A 

 As before we will try and rotate the team to make it fair for everyone, it would be good if everyone can come with waterproof jackets to stay warm and dry if substitute. 

It will be windy and raining tomorrow, the second half will be hard work so the substitutes will play a crucial role. If there are any problems please get in touch this evening or first thing tomorrow morning. 

Fingers crossed!! 

 Mark