Result
Sat May 27th
U12 Division 6
Lakewood Athletic B 4 Ballinhassig 2
A return to winning ways for the Lakewood U12’s on a fine morning at Lakewood. From the off Lakewood looked in control and it looked as though Lakewood would have the run of play for the whole opening half. Several good chances went wide as Bradley and Jake got themselves one on one with the keeper. It’s great to see the team creating as many chances in the first half again. However, the first half curse struck again as the very fast Ballinhassig forwards opened up the defence. Luke made a great save but could only get his fingertips on the ball to try and stop the following shot from the advancing Ballinhassig player. Lakewood composed themselves for the remainder of the first half creating a few more chances with Moeez, Sean and Bradley trying to break through. Half time and Lakewood were1 nil behind.
This team is used to coming back in the second half and this game was no exception. Lakewood dominated play and Ballinhassig were rocking. Lakewoods opening goal came from Ronan after a through ball by Diarmuid was passed on by Bradley. Ronan’s first shot was saved by the keeper but Ronan gathered the ball again and hit the net on the second asking. Ronan got the second goal too after taking the ball from the corner through the defence and beating the keeper on his near post. David, Diarmuid, Jack, Jake and Sean were controlling the midfield in the second half and the passing was accurate and controlled a lot of the time. Diarmuid was playing some lovely diagonal balls across the defence, one of which was met by Jack just outside the area. A quick glance up and the ball was despatched into the top right corner of the net going over the keeper. This goal came only a few minutes after Ronan’s second goal to take Lakewood 3 -1 up and Lakewood were firing on all cylinders now. The defence of Adam, Owen and Oscar were doing a lot of running trying to neutralise the obvious speed the Ballinhassig forwards possessed but they had to be constantly alert. Luke was forced to make some fine saves on a couple of occasions when Ballinhassig broke through. Lakewoods last goal came from a period of pressure once more when Jack played the ball back out to Jake on the edge of the box. He spotted an opening and calmly hit a fast ground shot into the bottom right of the net. A major change of line up at 4 – 1 up and 7 minutes to play as Luke came out of goal, replaced by David, to join Mark up front. Mark, Luke and Sean were fighting to break through and were successful a few times only for an offside call by the referee. The 30 minute half was somehow approaching 40 minutes when Ballinhassig got a goal back from a suspected 4 player offside position. The referee called the end of the game soon after the goal was scored. A great team display with every player doing their bit, playing in new positions when asked, to get the result the team so desperately desired and deserved. Well done lads.
