Mossley U15′s 3 v 2 Manchester Maccabi
This was our first game in eight weeks, and it saw us playing away at Maccabi Sports Center in Prestwich with a 2pm kick off, The starting eleven consisted of, Rob Hird, Matty Buckley, Alex Philpot, Elliot Blenkinsop, Josh Leah. Nathan Beckles, Danny laithwaite, Cam Dooley, Lian Berry (Debut), Prinston Fofie, James Brooke, subs Jack Derbyshire, Alex Jones, Lewis Henshall.
From the first whistle Mossley made a positive start to the game, the passing and movement, that was lacking from our earlier encounters in the league was starting to re-appear. and we came close to opening the scoring on separate occasions. Prinston was playing in an unfamiliar position up front, because Lewis had a mishap on his way to game which meant he missed the start of the game, but that didn’t seem to hamper our excellent start to this game. In the 17th minute our attacking play was rewarded when Nathan Beckles scored with a long range effort, 25 yards from goal.
This gave us the lift and belief we so sadly lacked in previous games, our new Goalkeeper Rob Hird was called into action on numerous occasions as Maccabi tried in vain to get on level terms, but the defense, with stood the onslaught and we went in 1-0 at half time.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with Mossley making all the running, the midfield was linking well, and the defense was coping well with what the home team was throwing at them.
On the 53rd minute of the game Mossley was awarded a penalty following a four man move, with the opposition Goalkeeper bringing down Liam Berry, the penalty however was missed by Elliot, which seemed to effect his concentration for the next 15 minutes of the game.
Both teams were on all out attack at this stage of the game but for some outstanding saves from Rob the scores would have been leveled, then on the 60th minute of the game following some good work between Liam, and Danny, who crossed perfectly for James Brooke to head home from close range to put Mossley two up.
The game now seemed to be running out as a comfortable away win, our first for the season, but then the drama unfolded, with eight minutes left the home team was awarded a penalty which Rob saved superbly, however two minutes later our defense was caught napping and a ball, through the centre of our defense, saw the home team pull one back, and with four minutes left of the game the unthinkable happened following a scramble in the goal area Maccabi scored to level the score at 2-2.
Personally i thought that was that, lady luck had once again deserted us after such a fantastic performance, following a long lay off, but with the last throw of the dice we were awarded a free kick following a foul on James, up stepped Nathan to deliver a pin point cross for Lewis to score the match winning goal, final score Maccabi 2, Mossley 3.
Manager’s Thoughts
At last my lads have finally got what they deserved, a well earned win. I may not have a squad of world beaters, but what i have got is a TEAM, I have said previously how proud I am of this group of players, and i hope this is the start of things to come, because they deserve every success.