THIS WEEKEND - SAT 30 JAN

Hi all

Training is ON this Friday at 5:45pm at County Offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have a match V Ellesmere Port Rockets at GOALS, Sealand (next to Deva Stadium) at 11:00 KO (so 10:40 arrival). Looking at the forecast we think this is the best option to ensure the game – on Sat 6 Feb we hope to be back on grass.

Boys will need trainers or blades (no metal studs).

Team:

Hugo (g)
Alex 
George
Rory
Bailey
Finlay
Charlie (c)
Zac
Will B 

Rested:

Harry

Xander

William

If anyone can't play please let me know ASAP so we can offer the places to those rested.

Also, thanks to those who’ve given me away days. If anyone else is away for half-term please let me know.

Thanks

Rob

MATCH REPORT - SAT 23 JAN

ROCKETS 7 - 6 CHESTER NOMADS

12 months ago we lost 0-12 to Nomads in our first 'Rockets' game. 4 months ago we lost 0-4 to Nomads but deserved much more. Today we beat them 7-6, playing their better team who have been playing in the 'A' league all season.

BIG PROGRESS and credit to the boys!

We started pretty well today, scoring first through George who slotted nicely with his trade mark left. In fairness then Nomads played some nice football to go level, then 2-1 up before Harry got us back level at 2-2 firing into the top corner.

The next two quarters saw us drop off a little too much and we gave Nomads best player too much time on the ball. Coupled with two own goals from crosses after giving the ball away cheaply we were a little unlucky to go into the final quarter 2-6 down!

In the final quarter we REALLY woke up. We asked the lads to raise the tempo and take more shots and the boys really responded (WOW)! We got back to 5-6 with goals from Finlay, Bailey and Harry and William was unlucky with a couple of long range efforts. Finlay finished a three man move which was the goal of the game.

At the back we tackled with a lot more bite and our composure on the ball was excellent. Hugo made a string of saves and his kicking today was perfect - a nice tactic on a small pitch!

The boys really felt they could get something from the game with 5 minutes to go and in particular Bailey was covering every inch of the pitch and Harry was finding and staying in space in the striker role.

We got level through Finlay after a long ball from Hugo was controlled brilliantly.

With a minute left we went ahead 7-6!! Harry was put through and fired low to complete an epic comeback and his own hat-trick. If I hadn't been refereeing I would have celebrated like Jurgen Klopp! 

All the boys were MOTM today - a lot of them had their best games so far for Waverton. The award and next weeks captaincy went to Charlie for his effort, desire and covering play. Lots of brilliant goals were scored but Charlie really controlled our defence with the excellent Alex and William.

When we do the simple things well (not all going to the ball, simple passing and moving) we are great. We have some really skilful and fast players who will hurt any opposition when they hold space, trust their team mates and wait for the ball.

We can really kick-on now as we know when we play like we did for large periods of the game today that we can compete with any of the teams in the area.

We welcome Xander to the Rockets squad from next weekend. Xander has great quality and takes us to 12 players which is the number we want looking ahead to the next few seasons.

Thanks
Rob

ps. if I've got some of the goal timings or scorers wrong above then I'm sorry about that - it was tough to keep up with the scoreline!

THIS WEEKEND - SAT 23 JAN

Hi all

Training is ON this Friday at 5:45pm at County Offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have a match V Chester Nomads 'A' at GOALS, Sealand (next to Deva Stadium) at 8:30KO (so 8:15). Sorry for the early start but pitches are hard to come by right now! 

Boys will need trainers or blades (no metal studs). 

Team:

Hugo (g)

Alex (c) 

Harry (c) 

George

Rory

Bailey

William

Finlay

Charlie 

Rested:

Will B 

Zac 

If anyone can't play please let me know ASAP so we can offer the places to those rested.  

Thanks

Rob

MATCH REPORT - SAT 16 JAN

ROCKETS 8 : 5 BLACON YOUTH

A really enjoyable morning playing 4 quarters against two Blacon teams. 

In the first game and particularly in the first 10 minutes we played some of our best football. The passing and movement between Harry, George and Rory was too much for Blacon to cope with and we scored three fantastic goals. Our defence was rock solid and we continued to dominate the match after the break scoring two more. Harry was MOTM in the first mini-match as he scored a hat-trick. 

I'm the second game Blacon introduced one big lad who was possibly their coach driver and naturally we were a little intimidated in the first 10 minute period. We regrouped at half time and told the lads just to stop the big lad at all costs ("the bigger they are the harder they fall" was mentioned!). Everyone stood up to the challenge and with a combination of good football and very enthusiastic tacking we dominated the second half and were really unlucky not to score more than the three goals. George scored a hat-trick across the two mini-games but Alex was named MOTM as he in particular took it upon himself to get stuck in and put his body on the line.

Overall we played very well and it was really pleasing to see that we can play attractive football but also adapt and 'put our foot in' when needed.

Hopefully we can get back on the grass soon but now we are seeing the benefit of us having money in the kitty from training subs so that we can hire 4G pitches. Can everyone please make an effort to keep up to date with training fees. Rebecca will be around on Friday night...

Thanks

Rob 

THIS WEEKEND - SAT 16 JAN

Hi all

Training is ON this Friday at 5:45pm at County Offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have a match V Blacon. AWAY at GOALS, Sealand (next to Deva Stadium) at 9am KO (so 8:40 arrival).

Boys will need trainers or blades (no metal studs).

Team:

Hugo (c) (g)
Will B
Alex
Zac
Harry
George
Rory
Bailey
William

Rested:

Finlay
Charlie

Ps. If the lads yellow socks are getting too small please can they try to wear plain black socks. If we look the part we will play the part (hopefully).

Thanks

Rob

TRAINING REPORT - SAT 9 JAN

Great to see the squad turn out this morning in challenging conditions! The play, the spirit and effort was fantastic and made for a fun morning.

Obviously it was hard to play technically but we felt the boys did well after spending the Christmas period and training on the 4G and Astro. It's a shame we couldn't find a game as I felt the lads were well up for it this morning.

On a morning where nearly every grass pitch fixture u6s to u11s was cancelled we did well to get a match session going so thanks for everyone's support. I'm sure the boys enjoyed the muddy conditions, especially Will B in his white kit!!

Thanks
Rob 

MATCH REPORT - SAT 2 JAN

ROCKETS 0 : 3 TARVIN ATHLETIC

A tough friendly match against a strong Tarvin (mostly A team) brought our unbeaten run to an end this morning. 

The lads played well in periods and some of the passing moves were good. Quite  often we got ourselves to positions of one V one or two V one, which on another day we might have done better from. 

We went 1-0 down from a corner which got past the near post - something we can work on as this happens too often. The second came from one of the Tarvin academy lads breaking up our play, us not making a couple of tackles before he hit an unstoppable shot. We went in after the first period 2-0 down but we had matched Tarvin quite well. 

The second period ended 0-0 and for the first 10 minutes we played well with some good passing moves especially down the left hand side. Zac was unlucky not to score with their keeper pulling of a great save. 

Early in the final period we conceded an uncharacteristic goal from our goal kick and our heads dropped a bit and Tarvin did pile on the pressure but we managed to keep the score down with some last ditch defending and goal line scrambles. 

Playing against a team made up of Tarvin's better players was useful as it showed that the lads have come a long way this season, can play competitively at this level and have the base skills. The difference between the two sides was organisation, positions and decision making - something we'd actually improved on recently! 

At times today we followed the ball a bit too much and in all positions the decision to pass could have made earlier. This was an issue going forward which meant that if they broke the play we got caught on the break with some of our midfielders in the wrong position. In defence if we didn't clear quickly enough Tarvin were "on us". We will try to do some work using the three zones of the pitch in training.

Well done to the lads over the last two games. They've been really competitive and show us how far we've come this season and what we can work on to get even better.

Back to Friday training and the league next weekend! 

Thanks
Rob