U12 Kestrels battle it out at Haslemere Friendly Tournament

Despite missing a couple of our normal stalwarts the rest of the Kestrel squad delivered a plucky set of performances against 3 very strong Haslemere sides who gave our own 'flying falcons' a run for their money.

Unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of the results in each match - our lack of goalkeeper was a disdvantage, especially in the closest game where the number of chances were about even.. if anyone knows a keeper at school or a friend see if you can recruit them! The junior umpires did a great job of letting play go for feet and stick tackles, though as we normally penalise repeat offences in training our misdemeanours were probably a bit less than our opposition. Especially tough when a couple of our efforts on goal were thwarted by feet, only for the opposition to go back up our end and score!

Nonetheless the determination and team spirit was first rate with player of the match performances from Ruth, Imogen, Cecilia and Martha (on debut!).

3 things that were good:
Trying to implement the skills and passing out of defence we have learnt in training - when it came off it was excellent and resulted in chances in our opponents D.
Everyone's effort and positive attitude even after conceding a goal.
When the ball got moved wide quickly our wide players were able to exploit the space.

3 things to work on:
Re-starts - if we take lots of time to take a free hit the opposition all have the chance to get in position. Move the ball quickly so you can take advantage of the space.
Use the space - the temptation is for the wide players to get drawn into the congested middle, so when we do get the ball we don't have a player to pass to. This results in more pressure on us.
If you do lose the ball chase back and help the defenders by getting goal side of the player.

So well done all of you for a great effort - the Kestrels are quite a young team so the fact we competed so well against players who have had much more game time than us is a credit to you.

Have a good weekend and see you friday.

Ben