END OF SEASON AWARDS / SUBS

Hi All

End of Season Awards

We have no match on SAT 18 JUNE so hopefully this will suit the majority for the end of season awards. The season will end the following weekend.

Format…

11:00     Rockets V Parents Match (All mum’s, dad’s, big sisters or brothers welcome)

 

12:30     Pizza and Awards at Ring O Bells in Christleton

We will be handing our voting forms to all players for the ‘Players Player of the Year Award’ in the next few weeks.

SUBS

After training pitch costs, Christleton 4G and Goals costs through the winter we have about £150 in the kitty left over before awards and pizza costs so I think we should collect again for May to put in another £120 which gives us a good start towards next season. I am asking Rebecca to complete her collections to end of April and she is missing money from a few of you so please can you bring up to date directly to me ASAP please. I’ll drop those few a note!

Polite reminder J that the £10 per month subs doesn’t just cover training pitches – it keeps us going at Goals and on 4G through winter, covers end of season awards trophies, tournament entrance fees etc. For example, we have spent £200 just keeping matches on over the winter when other teams didn’t play.

Please confirm attendance. 

Regards

Rob

MATCH REPORT - SAT 30 APRIL

ROCKETS 5 - 4 ELLESMERE PORT

In last weeks post-match team talk we said that the defeat to Ellesmere Ports other team in our league would do us no harm and that we would learn lessons.

This week we sent the boys onto the pitch with some basic instructions - break up the play, pass if there's a good option or run into space and attack. We talked about starting quickly and boy did the lads respond as we were 3-0 up within 15 minutes!

Our midfield of Xander, Zac and Bailey soon got to grips and overpowered the Ellesmere Port defence and midfield with some tenacious tackles and quick movement of the ball and feet! We went 1-0 up with a tremendous Bailey solo goal, quickly followed by a carbon copy from Xander, with both players nicking the ball in midfield and running through with hard and accurate finishes.

It was really pleasing to see the boys had listened to the instructions and our tactics were plaing dividends.

Into the second quarter we continued to dominate although Ellesmere Port had regained some composure and their excellent no.8 was starting to get them going. However, they hadn't counted on Zac picking the ball up in midfield, riding at least 3 tackles before getting the ball over the line when the keeper had made two initial saves!

Into the third quarter the coaches nearly made a tactical error as our midfield three were all very attacking players and whilst Harry, Bailey and Fin were great going forward we did lack some protection at times to our back two!! Ellesmere scored two goals but just as Paul was about to make a switch Bailey settled our nerves with a cracker to the top corner! 4-2.

The final quarter was end-to-end with Ellesmere Port scoring early on to give them encouragement. They then hit the side netting sending their mums into delirious celebration before the goal was ruled out.

The boys then put together a great move from the back, into Xander who slid in Bailey to smash another into the top corner and complete a hat-trick of excellent goals. Ellesmere Port did score again and Fin and Alex put their bodies on the line to seal the victory.

It was an excellent game today, with Ellesmere Port contributing hugely. They should take great credit for continually trying to pass out from defence even though we took advantage of this in the first quarter particularly.

MOTM went to Bailey who scored his first hat-trick for the club.

Well done to everyone. 

MATCH REPORT - SAT 23 APRIL

ROCKETS 2 - 5 ELLESMERE PORT

The boys came up against a really decent Ellesmere Port team this morning who had a couple of very strong players. The score line doesn't reflect our dominance of the game particularly in the final two quarters.

Ellesmere Port started slightly quicker than us and put down a marker with some strong but fair tackles. They went 0-2 up after 15 minutes with goals that perhaps on another day we could avoid by closing down quicker. 

At the end of second quarter Xander broke up the play, beat one player and belted the ball into the top left. The goal was deserved and we were starting to get on top.

At 1-2 down we started the 3rd quarter really well and with some great tackling and passing. We dominated the opening exchanges of the quarter and piled on the pressure which resulted in a goal line scramble from which Bailey finished nicely to bring us level.

At 2-2 I felt we could go on to win the match but from the resulting restart Ellesmere passed the ball to their best player who scored a very good goal. Having hauled ourselves back into the game the boys heads dropped a little before we regained our composure.

We were really unlucky not to score at least two goals with the ball bobbling over Baileys foot when he was about to score from three yards and Zac hitting the post from the best move of the match. Ellesmere Port were always a threat on the break, particularly down the left, and their talented (but highly spirited!) no. 10 scored another two, taking the game away from us.

It's not an understatement to say that the only things Hugo had to do was pick the ball out of the net! We played very well and created a lot more chances than the opposition. However we need to remember to play our football in the opposition half and not to get caught on the ball in our half when there are better options and passes we can make. This is particularly important when playing strong teams like today. 

MOTM came down to three or four contenders. William, Fin and Xander all had very good games and were creative and strong but the award went to Zac who in the early exchanges stood up to the task. 

This was our first defeat in 6 games and only our second since Christmas and it won't do us any harm. We can learn from this game and come back stronger next week.

THIS WEEKEND - SAT 23 APRIL

Hi all

 

I hope everyone had a good Easter break. The boys available over Easter performed brilliantly in training and the match against Blacon A (we won 6-0) and were unlucky to have the match against Nomads cancelled due to two days of rain last week which wrecked our pitch.  

Friday training is on as normal at 5:45pm at the Cheshire County offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have a HOME match V Ellesmere Port Jets at 9:30am KO (so 9:00am arrival). We will play on the grass at Waverton Pitches as I think they will have dried out. Last time we played Ellesmere Port Jets the result was 4-4.

We will take the whole squad with everyone getting 20 minutes match time. The seven to start will be those let down by the weather last weekend, with Harry as Captain.

Please let me know if anyone can’t make either training or the match.

Thanks

Rob

THIS WEEKEND - SAT 16 APRIL

Hi all

On Friday training is on as normal at 5:45pm at the Cheshire County offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have an HOME match V Chester Nomads at 9:00am KO (so 8:30am arrival). We will play on the grass at Waverton Pitches. 

Team:

Hugo (g)

William

Charlie

Harry (c) 

George 

Xander

Zac

Rested:

Rory

Will B

Fin

Alex

Bailey

Please let me know if anyone can’t make either training or the match.

After this very tough match (it's Nomads A team) this weekend we have four games coming up and few scores to settle versus Ellesmere Ports teams, Elton & Groves!! With the squad back to full strength hopefully we can finish the season strongly! 

Thanks

Rob

MATCH REPORT - SAT 9 APRIL

BLACON YOUTH 0 - 6 ROCKETS

With a few of our taller lads away and a squad of 8 players I was a little worried that we might struggle against a huge and robust Blacon Youth A team!

My concerns were completely ill founded as our speed, quick passing and tenacious tackling resulted in a victory where the score-line actually flattered the opposition! It could have been 10 or 12 and by the end Blacon were thankful to hear the final whistle.

We started with Xander in centre mid, Harry on the right and Zac on the left and it was apparent from the opening exchanges that our speed, passing and strong running was going to be too much for Blacon's midfield. It was like watching a team of Marouane Fellaini's trying to cope with Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana!  

We had spoken before the match about stopping the threat of Blacon's "team bus driver" and the boys executed the plan brilliantly. We hit him time and again with tackles, breaking the play before releasing the ball to George or pushing forward and shooting from midfield.

The first quarter ended 0-3 after a great Harry cross and George finish. This was followed by a wonderful solo effort and strike from Xander and then George scored again taking his tally to 6 goals in his last 16 minutes of game play!

At the break, we could hear that Neil (the Blacon coach) was not amused by what he had seen so we knew that Blacon would improve!! It was now time for our defenders to play their part. William and Charlie did not put a foot wrong for the whole 40 minutes. Their passing and decision making was spot on and I felt both had their best games for the club today.

Rory came on up front for George and immediately he was forcing Blacon to defend with some great direct runs. We again started to press and forced Blacon into a foul. Harry stepped up and struck an unstoppable free-kick into the top right. 4-0.

At half-time we said that the game was still alive and that it was really important to press, break up Blacon's play and keep passing. In the next two quarters we really controlled the game and we were in on goal a number of times. Zac continually broke up the play for us and then passed the ball brilliantly. Xander grabbed his second with another sweet strike and then Rory pounced onto a penalty area scramble to score a deserved goal.

Hugo kept a clean sheet with a great save late on and all his kicks and his general distribution was brilliant today.

MOTM was an impossible decision as so many of the boys had their best games for the club. We decided that everyone was MOTM but that Harry is Captain next week as he really worked hard, tackled back and was a great threat going forward.

Well done to all the lads. A great win against a strong team who beat us 3-2 last time we played.

THIS WEEKEND - SAT 9 APRIL

Hi all

On Friday training is on as normal at 5:45pm at the Cheshire County offices, pitch 3.

On Saturday we have an AWAY match V Blacon Youth at 9:00am KO (so 8:30am arrival). They play at Dee Point Primary School, Blacon Point Road, Blacon, CH1 5NF.

Team:

Hugo (g)
William
Charlie
Harry
George (c)
Xander
Rory
Zac

Rested:

Fin
Will B
Alex
Bailey

Please let me know if anyone can’t make either training or the match.

Thanks
Rob

MATCH REPORT - SAT 2 APRIL

UPTON 3 - 5 ROCKETS

Our plan this morning and team selection was thrown into chaos when we turned up to find a postage stamp sized muddy pitch and we were playing 6v6.

Clearly it suited Upton who, as they did at our place, were well drilled in soaking up pressure and hitting forward balls, which due to the pitch size were never far away from the big lad up front. The conditions had the adverse effect on our lads who are used to much more space, width and time to play our passing game.

That said, for the first 30 minutes of this game only one team decided to tackle and Upton sailed into a 3-1 lead with just 10 minutes left to play. Out tackling in the first 30 minutes, apart from Fin, was very poor and all the lads struggled to clear the lines in the muddy conditions and small area. We had scored a goal from a decent Xander corner forcing an Upton own goal.  

With 10 minutes left we talked about our epic comeback against Nomads. We agreed as a group that our performance so far had been unacceptable and that we'd all quite like to win the game!!  

The final quarter was a very different story. Our body language, effort and tackling reached a different level and we were getting shots on target.

On 31 mins George finished a good move into the bottom right. 3-2...

On 31 mins 30s George finished a good move into the bottom left. 3-3...and getting interesting!

On 32 mins George pounced on a goal line scramble and got the ball over the line with his RIGHT foot. 3-4...and getting really interesting.

At 3-4 up we were suddenly winning every tackle and in particular Zac, Fin and William were setting the tone with some fair tackles and some crunching mistimed ones! Upton suddenly looked very much second best.

On 34 mins George got clear on the left and smashed one to the top right to score his fourth goal in 3 minutes which I am reliably informed must be a Chester and District record. His first three goals brought back memories of Robbie 'God' Fowler against Arsenal but by the time the fourth went in it was more like Ian Rush versus Everton (one for Steve Peers there!!).

We defended really well in the last quarter and even though 12 minutes of a 10 minute quarter were played we stuck it out to complete another famous comeback.

MOTM was between Fin and George but we couldn't ignore four goals at the Primary school George attends and against a lot of his mates. George will be Captain next week.

Well done to the lads to show the character required to haul themselves back, but we really didn't need to leave ourselves a mountain to climb!