LANGTON GREEN DEVILS STATISTICS 2011/12
(inclusive of all league matches and fiestas)
Played: 10 Won: 4 Drew: 3 Lost: 3
Scorers: Dan (6), Cam (1), Will (5), Eddie (1), Jacob (1)
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Dan showed some brilliant skills on the ball, ghosting past 2 defenders and earning an attacking throw in which unfortunately led to a mad scramble in the box without further reward. Both games were nowhere near as open and fluid as last week’s crackers against Rusthall, possibly due to Pembury having a quick attacking line in both teams, so the boys kept it tight. Perhaps a tip then, is to stay wide and in position and let the ball do the work, as it’s surely faster than a speeding opposing striker.
Final result 0 – 0
Pembury 0-Langton Green Devils 1
In the second match, the boys had to hastily learn how to deal with a quick attack, with an effective counter attack, AND a strong, tall defender who couldn’t be beaten in a drag race to the goal. Devils attacking play started to pick up swiftly, but with a bunched opposition defence, it was going to be difficult to find a way through. Evan made a great clearance, making himself big and strong, followed by a passage of play where the defence made every difference to the end result …. Sam with ‘attack dog’ like defence, Cam showing fighting spirit in a rush defence, topped off with none other than Evan racing back the width of the pitch to chase down a breakaway from the Pembury right winger and make a last ditch tackle, blocking what was sure to be a tester for the keeper.
The second half started with Pembury determined to get the scoreboard ticking in their favour, however Sam and Evan had alternate plans, with Sam showing a willingness to put his body on the line in defence and Evan reading the game well to intercept a pass setting off Will in a great attack. The team all pushed up the line which kept the pressure up and the ball in the box and thankfully eventually forced over the line, only just, by ‘Dangerous Dan’! G-O-A-L !!!!! Mad Max overheard the Pembury parents calling for goal line technology thus swiftly stuck the ball back in the net to make sure and silence the doubters.
This shook the opposition and got the boys believing in themselves again which led to a few waves of attack … a tidy breakaway with the kind of interplay we now expect from Will and Dan & 2 fruitless goal mouth hustles. The last bit of action came from Cam with a bit a defensive magic, chasing down an attacker, stretching every muscle and making the save with not a moment to spare.
Aaron had a great couple of games in goal, showing no fear and team spirit, which had him voted by his peers as player of the week and he’s extra chuffed that he keeps the trophy until the next game, which is still a while off. This occasion, being his first ever between the sticks, was a steep learning curve especially the belief that you can actually use your hands, but showed wonderful composure and an ability to read the game. A tip from his father to any dad’s watching their son in goal in future …. 1) whisky 2) hip flask 3) at the ready …. nuff said!
Final result 0 – 1
Well done to the Devils, they never gave up, they gave their all, they played as a team, as one!
Player of the Week: Aaron ‘The Boss’
Sevenoaks Eagles 6 – 1 Langton Devils
Scorer: Dynamo Dan
Dark grey clouds followed us over for the trip to Sevenoaks, but luckily the rain held off for the duration of the games. For the first game the team line up was; Eddie in goal, Euan and Max in defence, Sam, Aaron and Jacob across the midfield with Dan up front
For the first 5 minutes the football was end to end with each team creating good chances to score, with Dan and Aaron in particular going close. However, as the half progressed, the Eagles started to dominate the midfield and we became a little overrun and let in 4 goals in quick succession before half time. However, reinforcements arrived at half time, (A21 was closed with 2 of the Devils en-route) with Evan and Cam bolstering the team for the 2nd half.
For the second half, Cam went in goal, Evan came into defence alongside Euan, Eddie into Midfield with Max and Jacob dropping to the subs bench. With Eddie’s combative performance in midfield, we were much stronger in the 2nd half, with Dan scoring our first goal after some good work from Eddie and Aaron driving forward from midfield. Our defensive pair of Evan and Euan were working well together and limited the Eagles to half chances only for the majority of the second half. The Devils created three more good chances in the second half (2 for Aaron, one more for Dan) but the Eagles keeper was up to the task with all the shots being hit straight at the keeper for him to save. The Eagles then hit us with the sucker-punch, scoring a lucky 5th goal with a long range effort (meant to be a cross) that flew in at the near post followed by a late 6th goal.
[Top Tip – as a defence we must work as a team to mark up the opposition and attack the ball when it is in our box to clear it]
Sevenoaks Hawks 5 – 1 Langton Devils
Scorer: Jacob ‘the Bus’
Our second game was against the Sevenoaks Hawks. We changed our formation with Evan in goal, Euan and Max in defence, Jacob, Eddie and Cam across the midfield and Dan up front. The first half was very even, with Max and Euan doing a good job in defence and again Eddie commanding in midfield and well supported by Jacob and Cameron with Jacob scoring his first goal for the Devils! After a well fought first half and the score 2 – 1 to the Hawks, Euan and Dan made way for Aaron and Sam, with Eddie pushed up into the strikers role.
We gave it a good go in the 2nd half and on another day Aaron could have had a hat trick, who had two chances go just wide and another one saved by the keeper. Unfortunately as we were pushing for a goal to draw level we lost our shape and position in the last 5 – 10 minutes and the Hawks hit us on the break and scored three quick fire goals.
Saturday 15th Oct 2011
Langton Devils 0 – o Ashurst Wood
A beautiful autumn day in October greeted the kick off of the much anticipated home fixture against regular opposition Ashurst Wood. A depleted Ashurst team resulted in a 10 a side match being played in the sunshine.
In the first half, the lack of space for fluent playing was evident, with both sides struggling to break into space in the crowded midfield. However, after 10 minutes, Dan generated a good run down the right, with the useful cross put behind for a corner. From the corner, dead ball specialist Eddie swerved in a tantalizing ball, which was missed by several players before being safely collected by the goalkeeper. After that opening, Ashurst seemed to be getting the upper hand with Cameron, Ewan and Max all producing good saving tackles to deny the opposition. This pressure slowly built into the first real goal scoring opportunity of the match, after a cheeky back heel from the Ashurst number 20, enabled a forward to turn and shoot a goal bound effort towards to the right side of the goal. Luckily, for Langton, goalkeeper Evan was equal to it, making an aerobatic dive to block it and then gather it on the second attempt.
At the start of the second half, both sides continued to put a lot of effort into the game without too much being created. But as the match unfolded the devils improved their passing, in particular Will, and this led to a number of shots on goal, with both Evan and Dan forcing saves from the Ashurst number one. Towards the end of the half Ashurst came back into it, but were thwarted by some stout defending by Ewan.
The 0-0 score line was a fair result from the skills both sides displayed, in a masterly refereed affair. In his post match interview head coach Andrew Donnelly said “The team played well with everybody putting in a lot of effort, we now need to look to get the ball up to the forwards so we can make more scoring opportunities“. The player of the week award went to Jacob for his effort trying to set up his team mates to score.
[Top Tip - to win games we need to score goals, lets get the ball up to the forwards]
Saturday 24th Sept 2011
With much excitement the Devils players assembled at Rusthall. The only problem was Rusthall have two grounds and half the players were at the wrong one! We thought it was a bit quiet. After some frantic phone calls, we managed to get the whole squad in the right place and much hugging and high fiving ensued.
We got together with our buddy team the Yodas who were a man short and Aaron was a fantastic sport and agreed to help them out this week. Helping our club and team mates makes us really good footballers. So well done Aaron.
Rusthall Lions 2 – Devils 0
Our first match was against the mighty Rusthall Lions. Evan played in goal. Sam and birthday boy James were in defence. Cam, Max and Eddie played in the middle and up front we played Dynamo Dan and Jake.
We started off really strongly with some good passing up to our front two and, in the first half, Dan and Jake had 6 attempts on goal between them. The Lions goalie was jumping all over the place. Cam, Max and Eddie worked really hard in the middle of the park and got some great crosses in to the strikers. Our defenders were brilliant at holding position. Sam made a great sliding tackle and James helped out Evan at the far post for the corners.
By the second half it was getting really hot and everyone had to have a good guzzle of water to keep going. The Lions were attacking more and more. Euan came on for James and was a real help to Evan in marking the last man. Rusthall were getting a few corners now and in the last few minutes of the game we let two goals in. It shows we need to concentrate right until the final whistle. Overall though we played at least as well as the Lions and were unlucky not to draw.
We made strong progress in this game in keeping our shape and positions and in helping out our team mates.
[Top Tip – always stay focussed until the final whistle]
Rusthall Tigers 3 – Devils 2
Scorer: Dynamo Dan (2)
Our second game was against the Rusthall Tigers. We changed our formation and Eddie went into goal and Evan came into the outfield. Dan and Cam played brilliantly up front but Rusthall were very strong and could really whack the ball from the set pieces. By half time, our boys were getting a bit tired. We let in 3 cracking goals by Rusthall in quick succession.
Many teams would have given up – but not the Devils. Even though we were playing the second half uphill, our defenders – Evan and Jacob were brilliantly defending the goal and Eddie made some acrobatic saves and punches. We could have let in 10 goals but not a single one crossed the line. It was real Dunkirk spirit ( you will have to ask your grandparents what that means!).
Meanwhile, our midfield were holding positions and Max, Evan and James were getting into space and making some cracking passes in to our forwards. Dan and Cam were really attacking the goal now and had chance after chance but the Tigers’ goalie was not easy to beat.
We kept trying though and in an amazing strike, Dan scored the goal of the day. He whacked the ball high in the air and the goalie dived but could not stop it. NO CHANCE – It was just too fast. A minute later, Dan scored another superb goal. It was a bit like Rooney’s goal against Chelsea ( a good goal – even though I am a Chelsea fan!). We were back in the game.
We tried and tried for our third goal but the whistle went. 3-2 was the score but the story of the game was that we fought back and never gave up. Great spirit, Devils.
Rusthall are a really great club and have been playing together for a whole year longer than the Devils so we can be really proud the games were so close. We gathered with our best buddies the Yodas and had the post match presentations.
Player of the Week: Jacob got the Player of the week for the Yodas and our own Eddie the Eagle got the prize for his great goal keeping and outfield play in the first game.
Eddie and Jacob got the inaugural POTW trophy to show to their family and friends until our next match.
[Top Tip – never give up, you have to be in it to try to win it - and this week we nearly did]
Saturday 10th Sept 2011
Langton Devils 1 – 2 Sevenoaks Dynamos
Scorers: Dan
This was our first game of the new season and everybody was looking forward to getting started. The summer break had meant the Dad’s had forgotten how to put the goals up but succeeded in the end. A few minutes before kick off news came in that Evan was sick and would not be able to play. This meant a few late changes to the team and Cam starting in goal. After Cam had finished playing with a worm he had found in the goal mouth we were able to start the game.
The team started slowly taking a small amount of time to remember what they were doing. James and new boy Jacob showed some good defending, tackling the Sevenoaks forwards. Dan and Eddie made a number of fantastic breaks passing the ball really well. After a few unlucky misses Dan scored our first goal of the season. [GOAL 1-0]. Shortly after Sevenoaks broke and scored a good goal. [GOAL 1-1]
At half time Will came on for James. The second half was very close with both teams tackling well and not being scared. Will and Eddie both showed how brave they were after many tough tackles from Sevenoaks. If you get hurt playing football you don’t let anybody see you are hurt and carry on playing. Other new boy Aaron was playing very well, tackling and passing to his new team mates as if he has always been a Devils player. Sevenoaks took an excellent corner and unluckily it bounced off a Devils player into our own goal. [GOAL 1-2]. We tried hard to get a goal but Sevenoaks played well and the game finished 1-2.
[Top Tip – when defending try to clear the ball up the pitch quickly and don’t pass it in front of our own goal otherwise the other team may score. “If in doubt kick it out!”]
Langton Devils 2 – 1 Crowborough
Scorers: Cam, Will
For the second game against Crowborough Evan had made a magically recovery from his sick bed and was ready to play. (I’m sure if it was a school day he would not have recovered so quickly!) We changed the team around again which seemed to confuse the boys and when we started the boys forgot to stay in their positions. Eddie was in goal for the second game and performed a number of great saves. Euan must of had 5 Weetabix for breakfast as he showed how brave he can be tackling the Crowborough forwards without any fear. Crowborough took a corner and scored an excellent header. [GOAL 0-1]. The Devil’s did not give up but still were not playing in their postions. At half time we talked about everybody staying in their positions. Evan and Euan were staying in position in defence but the midfield and forwards were unorganised. Will and James needed to remember to stay on the left or right wing and Cam and Jacob up front. In the end the team began to stay in their positions and it paid off. An excellent long clearance was kicked deep into Crowborough’s half, Cam had stayed in his position up front and had a clear run at goal. Cam ran from the halfway line all the way to Sevenoaks goal and shot the ball into the bottom corner, great goal. [GOAL 1-1] Within a minute of the kick off the Devils attacked again and Will scored his first goal of the season. [GOAL 2-1]. Well done to the Devil’s their first win of the season.
Jacob and Aaron showed they will be great players for the team, James and Euan showed they had grown stronger and braver not scared of the ball or other players, Max and Evan are consistent reliable players who work very hard for the team, Cam showed greatly improved concentration and ability to listen to instructions resulting in his first goal, Will and Dan look like they again will score lots of goals this season and Eddie demonstrated he can play very well in any position.
I look forward to a great season with all players working as a team and encouraging each other even if somebody makes a mistake.
[Top Tip - Stay in your position so we have a player in every part of the pitch and can score on the break]
Player of the Week: This week we gave the award to Euan as the most improved player with his excellent tackling and bravery, keep it up! (Andy & Stuart)
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