Bury Grammar school U13A vs. Merchant Taylors’ school U13A.

After the festive period, and then the break to the normal timetable due to the exam schedule, some boys hadn’t kicked a ball since December.

So, no pressure at all. Very little tactical or technical information was offered before the game as I just wanted the boys to get a feel for the ball and enjoy being back on the pitch again.

It was very pleasing to see the boys really take the game to MTS with a barrage of creative and attacking pressure. Approaching 20 minutes into the first half and MTS hadn’t crossed the halfway line. Slightly disappointingly, the first half finished 0-0.

The message at half time was simple, keep playing as you have, but try to convert some of the many chances we were creating.

Within minutes of the restart, we scored from the second phase of a corner. First ball slightly cleared, only for the ball to fall nicely at Lewis Chingwaro’s feet, who finished brilliantly.

MTS quickly went on the offensive and forced an error out of Heiman Huang who handled the ball in the penalty area. Penalty. 1-1.

Henry Cooper was a real threat all game and his pace and trickery was proving very problematic for the MTS defender who struggled to find the answers. From one of the free kicks the MTS defender conceded, we scored again. A superb cross whipped in towards the back post was met perfectly by Teddy Chivers to fire home from close range. 2-1.

Once again, MTS quickly fired back, beating the offside trap and looping the ball over the goalkeeper.

In the closing moments, the MTS goalkeeper couldn’t hold a ferocious, Jack Baldwin free kick, which gave Harry Aston the opportunity to win the game from close range. He duly obliged!

A great first game of the year for our U13A boys.