Ascot United U16 Raiders v WOODLEY WANDERERS AND YOUTH U16 REDS

Report

TEN MAN RAIDERS MAINTAIN UNBEATEN START BY DEFEATING GOOD WOODLEY TEAM

Raiders entertained Woodley Wanderers at the Racecourse this morning and in a pulsating encounter ran out worthy winners despite being down to 10 men for the last 20 mins.

Woodley had started the season with 3 straight victories and despite losing to Whitegrove 2 weeks previously, looked on paper a force to be reckoned with. The early exchanges were fairly even with Raiders taking the game to Woodley, who in turn looked dangerous on the counter attack. After an accidental clash of heads early on the Woodley striker had to be substituted with a blood injury. Raiders began to utilise the large area of space on our left vacated by the Woodley right back, who was being sucked across to the RH side and Euan forced the Woodley keeper into a save. Hari then had a goal disallowed for offside and with Morgan holding the ball up and bringing players into the game Raiders were looking the more likely to score, although Musty had to be alert to tip over a rasping Woodley shot. Then on 35 mins Kyran burst down the right and from the edge of the area hit a bullet of a shot that the keeper initially fumbled but kept out. Finally on 42 mins the deadlock was broken when Morgan slipped Cory through who kept his composure and slotted past the keeper. A minute later Morgan doubled the score with a clever turn just inside the penalty area and squeezed the ball past the keeper and into the corner. Half time 2-0

The second half started in much the same vein with Raiders pushing forward and Woodley looking to play through midfield and release their strikers but our defence held firm with Jack and Jamie battling for all their worth against the central strikers. Then on 52 mins a loose ball dropped to Jimbo on the left and without hesitation he volleyed over the keeper and into the top RH corner…what a goal! Shortly afterwards Euan had a great chance to make it 4-0 but clipped the ball over the bar.

Then on 62 mins the game changed, a mix up between the defenders and Musty left the Woodley striker with the freedom of the penalty area on the LH side and our goal at his mercy. Jimbo having seen the danger ran back to cover the empty goal and in attempting to clear the shot handled the ball according to the referee who showed him a red card and awarded a penalty. The penalty was duly converted and Woodley sensed that with 18 mins still to play they could get something out of the game and poured men forward. Raiders however defended manfully and despite conceding another goal, a superb low shot into the corner, saw the game out, final score 3-2.
No individual MOM this week, all 14 boys played their part and battled from start to finish.