Bengeo Tigers FC

Squad:- J.Hickman, H.Ives, M.Grundey, B.Grover, C.Evans, M,Fell, C.Hillier, O.Skinner, J.Vanderweele, T.Parkhouse, H.Orton, S.Jones, J.Crosby & O.Clinckscales.

At last! Our first game of football since December 12th and what a way to start back, away to East Herts Youth in the Semi-Final of the League Shield! This fixture should have been played last week but was postponed due to a water logged pitch.

To be fair, myself and Tyson were a little apprehensive as no games of football had been played because of the snow etc and the boys have literally only had very limited training also. However, we knew that East Herts Youth were in a similar position to us and so our message to the boys was get out on to that pitch and play your football and do your best!!

The pitch was not in a bad way after the snow and rain but one particular goal mouth was very boggy and could this possibly have an effect on the game?

So we kicked off the first half and winning the toss, Owen Skinner decided to stay as we were and stay in the boggy end first and kick slightly up hill!

The football was very fast from Bengeo from the kick off and the passing was very good considering the pitch. Max Fell broke down the right and found Toren Parkhouse who laid it in for Henry Orton who SCORED!! within the first minute of the match - 0-1!

Great start and we just wanted the boys to keep there composure because it was very early days!

This game was very much a midfield battle today with much being fought for in the centre and down the wings. Both our wingers today knew that they were in for a busy morning up and down the wings to attack and defend!

On 12 miniutes, East Herts breached our midfield and defence and went for goal. Unfortunatley the boggy conditions did not help our keeper and it slid through him to make it 1-1. We knew now that it was game on!!!

None of the Bengeo Tigers heads went down and the response was just what we wanted. The central midfield of Callum Evans, Joe Vanderweele and Callum Hillier were at times awesome in stopping attacks and yet creating chances. Beck Grover in the back three done some great tackles and at times his timeing was simply superb.

We were telling the boys to try and get it out to the wings if possible rather than go through the middle. Max Fell recieved the ball and whipped in a cross that was headed away only to find Henry Orton who smashed it in on 26 miniutes to make it 1-2!

Before we knew it it was half time and a good breather and a Lucozade was very welcome! The boys listened to what we had to say but we really wanted them to carry on playing as they had been and now going down the slight gradient in to the boggy area could well be interesting for us!?

We started the second half very brightly and it was very evident that both Owen and Max wanted to attack and this is what they did down the wings. Henry and Toren up front were continuing to be a constant threat and on 34 miniutes, Owen went on a run down the left and whipped in a cross for Toren Parkhouse who put it in the back of the net! 1-3!!

East Herts responded well and it went back to being a midfield battle but we dealt wirth the pressure. We continued to attack and the East Herts keeper was in fine form in the boggy goal as he must have saved at least seven chances of ours!

As the game drew nearer to the final whistle, some of the boys looked tired as they had given it everything and we managed a couple of substitutions.

We held on and WON 3-1!! Our first final in 11 A-Side football!!!!

A tough game but that is what you would expect Semi-Finals to be like!!

Everybody played well today and to say proud of the boys is an understatement!! We now face an old rival in Wodson Park Utd in the final.

Man of the Match:- Today this was a tough call as every single player gave it everything that they had and I wanted to give it to them all. However on further thought and reflection, one player stands out for me today for his terrior like never give up attitude and not being the tallest lad on the pitch, he made sure that he was head and shoulders above East Herts today!! WELL DONE Max Fell and please keep up the great work and attitude!!

Graham Skinner - Under 11’s Manager.