Football news – 37 goal weekend brings more success

January 16, 2017

football-ipWycliffe/Shrewsbury Football Report

Saturday saw the second round of football fixtures take place with matches against Wycliffe College and the 1st XI travelled to Shrewsbury to face one of the top four teams in the country.

Away from home some exciting yet tough fixtures took place despite two losses. In the third team game Wycliffe scored the odd in seven winning 4-3. The 3rds raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Danish and Tom but couldn’t hold onto their lead despite an effort from Lehman outside the box rocketing into the back of the net. The U15As put in a valiant performance losing 6-5 in what must have been an enthralling fixture.

At home all four teams won with the U14As and U16s proving to be the form teams with Mr Stentiford and Mr Picken being able to pass on their valuable experience gained in India. The U16s ran out 9-1 winners with Adam scoring directly from a corner and Rory Shepherd carrying on his run of hat tricks. The U14Bs also won 5-3. The 2nd XI looked to build on their demolition of Kings Worcester last week against a strong Wycliffe 1st XI. They went 1-0 up through an Adam volley before being pegged back to 1-1. However, they continued to push for the winner putting together an excellent passing move for Azhar to score from close range

For the 1st XI one of the hardest games of the seasons lay ahead with our opponents preparing for an ISFA Cup semi-final against Millfield. However, Monmouth started well pressing the opposition hard and repeatedly winning the ball back high up the pitch and putting together some good passing moves. Yet we were once again our own worst enemy with a defensive mix up leading to their striker having a tap in. This didn’t knock the team’s resilience, despite our opponent’s fast flowing football, as Monmouth quickly bounced back with George scoring his first goal for the 1st XI. After this our inability to hold onto possession combined with a few errors led to Shrewsbury scoring two more goals before half time. The second half proved to be a difficult yet much more even affair with the opposition bringing on four fresh players; one of whom was a German U18 international. Some strong defending from Nick in particular led to Shrewsbury scoring only one second half goal and provided a strong base for Monmouth to build some convincing passages of play. Two of these saw Monmouth complete over 10 passes playing through all three thirds with Alex hitting the post not once but twice; with the Shrewsbury keeper beaten. Despite this constant pressure Monmouth were unable to capitalise on several chances leaving the game at 4-1.

It was once again a successful weekend for the football club scoring 37 goals highlighting the attacking prowess of the teams and I’m sure all the boys will be excited for this week’s Mercian League fixtures against Malvern College – the 1st XI’s first home game of the season.