Tower Hill vs Tower Hill Stars - Match Report

Tower Hill U8s vs Tower Hill Stars U8s – Wed 1st Sept 2010

On a beautiful British summer's evening at the picturesque West Witney Sports and Social Club the two Tower Hill U8’s sides went head to head. Tower Hill against Tower Hill stars.

This intriguing encounter lived up to the pre-match hype as the sides went face to face and in a battle fought by committed men in small bodies. Supported by a near sell out crowd, everything was in place to enjoy a nail biting, action thrilled, enthralling encounter that was not for the faint hearted. Leave the kids at home!!!!

With the sun beaming down on the pitch you could have mistaken your whereabouts for a evening in the Costa del sol, but No, this was far from a relaxing holiday, this was the first time the lads had taken to the field this season and the lions were unleashed from their cages as the boredom of the summer holiday’s became a distant memory. The thumping challenges and crunching tackles followed by the echoes of ooohs and the aaahs from the mums and dads made for an end to end spectacle in a true old fashioned English style game of football. What are these children being coached!!!!! The crowd were soon to realise that they were to certainly get their monies worth as they were in for a footballing treat.

For the first time in their long industrious careers they were playing on a full size pitch with 11 vs 11. (Bibs against colours), The Stars were kicking towards the pavilion end with sunlight in their eyes. However this seemed to draw them in as they photosynthesised on the Tower Hill goal. It could be fair to say that the opening exchanges were in favour of the Stars team and it took hard work and courageous defending from Skipper Twiss and his accomplice Eason in the heart of the defence backed up by Cooper in goal to keep the stars at bay. Despite this hard work the inevitable happened as Tower Hill were now riding their luck on numerous occasions. And then it happened a slight lack of concentration from the back line left the ever available Taylor Savin in yards of space (just outside the honeypot). He took a touch and smashed home an unstoppable thunderbolt past the stranded Jack Cooper, who did go on to have an outstanding game in the Tower Hill goal.

This seemed to rile Tower Hill youngsters and all of sudden they leapt into life. Gregory and the Keyes boys Jay and Callum supported by the ever willing Carney started to oppose themselves on the frantic encounter. They got their rewards which has to be said was against the run of play. Who was it, yes, you guessed it, Callum Keyes. Whoever had him down as the first goalscorer on the website poll must surely know their stuff!! Not good odds though!!

So 20 minutes gone and a much deserved break earnt by all with the scores locked at 1:1. So a quick change of ends that gave the parents time to reflect on a fast and frantic first half performance from both sides. A word from the gaffers about positional play and they were off again.

The second half began in the same vein. Could anyone take another 20 mins of this tense affair? It has to be said that Tower Hill Stars were again playing the better football and looking like the more likely side to score. It did however appear on numerous occasions that Tower Hill had forgotten which end they were kicking and it appeared that all 22 players were kicking towards one goal. Despite a couple of dodgy hand ball decisions by the Ref that went unnoticed (not bias) they finally got their rewards. 2.1, and thoroughly deserved. Still on top the Stars pushed for another and soon it arrived. The impressive and hard working Karim Sangha finished off another 20 pass flowing move, 3.1 to the stars and most of the home supporters were packing up their sombreros’ and heading home. So that was it, or was it? The chants of Cheerio, Cheerio came from the vibrant Stars fans as the Tower Hill supporters were leaving in their hoards to beat the traffic out of the ground. And just as it looked all over the game turned on its head again and yes it was that man Keyes again. He struck another pile driver past Findley in the Stars goal. (3.2) surely they couldn’t come back from this!!. The referee against the opposition’s manager’s better judgement decided to play a few more minutes despite whistles from the crowd urging the game to finish. And then the upbeat stars team surged forward with one aim. Get the ball to Keyes and that they did. Keyes received the ball one on and 20 yards out and you guessed it, Keyes smashed the equaliser and completed his impressive hat-trick followed up by his trademark Alan Shearer celebration of one hand raised to the gods.
Soon after the Ref blew his whistle which by now was 10 minutes (cough cough) into injury time!!. The game finished 3:3 and bragging rights will have to wait for another day.

A very hard working defensive performance was the key to grinding out this result against a strong Stars team. Expertly orchestrated by Skipper Charlie Twiss who is really showing us what a good player he can be.

There were some impressive displays from Robert Carney, Thomas Miller, Jack Cooper, Charlie Twiss, Jay Keyes & Toby Gregory plus some encouraging debuts from Cameron Hadfield and Blaine Eason but you guessed it this week’s Man of the Match went to the lethal Callum Keyes.

The manager must be licking his lips at the prospects of the season ahead with so many of his star players missing. Josh Grant, Harvey King, Connor Murphy & Shay James will be added to this excellent squad and all involved are now looking forward to the 1st game of the season vs Didcot Town. See fixtures section of the website for further details.