Metropolitan Police U18 (0) 2 Eze 65 Mitchell 81
Tonbridge Angels U18 (0) 1 Sollis 53
Attendance: 120
Played at Tooting and Mitcham
New Ground: 308
Entrance: £3 Senior
Programme: Included
Mileage: 106/9,495
Tonbridge Angels Under-18 side will now break-up in its present format, some will leave for pastures new, some will stay to be within the newly-formed 17-21 year old age group which will be competing in the senior Suburban League next season.
That they fell short at the final hurdle should diminish the efforts of this talented group of players, not only from this season but also through the age groups for the last four years. Callum Adonis-Taylor, Sid Sollis and Liam Smith have all progressed to first team appearances whilst Tommy Chapman and Jack Fenton have been involved in senior squads.
The Champion of Champions Final was played at Tooting and Mitcham’s Imperial Fields on a bone hard, threadbare pitch that made any decent football difficult for both sides who spent the majority of the first half trying, and largely failing, to come to terms with the conditions.
Tonbridge carved out the first chance of the game when Chapman had a shot deflected for a corner and this was quickly followed by a five minute period in which the Angels were reduced to 10 men whilst Oliver Baker was treated for a bloody nose.
A cagey first half was to ensue, as said the pitch causing problems and neither side wanting to concede the first goal.
Metropolitan Police were forced into a substitution after 20 minutes when George Smethurst was replaced by Prince Eze, who went on to produce a performance that begged the question as to why he was on the bench in the first place.
What few chances that evolved were created from set pieces, Tonbridge’s from Chapman free kicks whilst the Met relied on the long throws from Luke Mitchell.
Lewis Mitchell made two smart saves at the end of the half to allow Tonbridge to go into the break on level terms. Firstly, a fine save low to his left to deny John Gilbert and an even better save acrobatically parrying away an effort from Jamie Autorino.
The Angels were forced into a half-time substitution when Chapman was replaced by Ziyad Ghali.
Mitchell was called into action again early in the second period brilliantly touching a shot from Eze.
Tonbridge finally opened the scoring after 53 minutes. A long ball forward was overhit but Sollis willingly chased it down. The goalkeeper got there first but cannoned his clearance into the body of Sollis for the ball the rebound into the net.
The Police responded with an equaliser after 65 minutes when a shot from outside of the box came back off the chest of Mitchell into the path of Eze who gratefully accepted the opportunity.
The game became stretched with half chances at both ends before the Met grabbed a goal which was ultimately to be their winner. A cross from the left was punched clear by the goalkeeper to a waiting Luke Mitchell who drove the ball back into the net.
The Angels made a concerted effort to rescue the game, including sending goalkeeper Mitchell forward for a corner, but without creating any clear opportunities.
After the final whistle, we talked to the new manager of the Suburban League group, Chris Wye about the game and his plans for the future. About the game, Chris agreed with our opinion that, overall, the Met Police probably just about deserved their win but he was disappointed that the goals had come from set pieces that could have been better defended.
For the future, he was asked about the possibility of having a blank piece of paper from which to assemble a side for next year. He said that he is expecting around 50% of the side to still be around and he would be supplementing those with players that would come from organised trial days.
Of his own coaching career, he says that he draws on the disappointment of a playing career that showed great potential at Basingstoke only to find that he and other youngsters were released when Eddie Howe became the manager. He felt that he suffered from some poor advice and now uses those experiences to, hopefully, point youngsters in the right direction and he added that he finds it satisfying when he sees a player that he has nurtured featuring in reports for all the right reasons.
One era closes and another begins, we finished our interview with Chris feeling a lot more optimistic than we had at the final whistle.
This squad have been the delight of my season. I became aware of their talent towards the end of last season and saw a couple of matches and quickly became hooked, so it is with great disappointment that they are now to break up. The Suburban League is going to be difficult to follow in the same way with it being a Saturday league but any opportunity that I can get to see them, I'll take. And, without doubt, I'll take an opportunity to see how those that have chosen to follow Jay Stubberfield to Margate are faring.
This was my first visit to Tooting and Mitcham's Imperial Fields. Certainly from the outside it looks very impressive. Inside, perhaps a little disappointing but the main grandstand is imposing and the cover behind each goal an interesting design concept. Just how dry you would remain on a day of driving rain, actually, I don't want to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment