On this lovely spring morning at The Bury Cougars welcomed Royston Town Crows. Both teams observed an impeccable minute’s silence in respect of the tragic event that occurred in London this week.
Shorty after the game kicked off and The Royals looked alert from the start, looking to pass the ball out of defense to the wings and work their way forward.
Ryan Gasson as the lone defender with some early good work keeping the opposition at bay. Shortly after Keiron Bliss on the left wing made a nice pass down the line to William Brown, who went straight for goal, showing good pace, driving to the edge of the box and slotting home, straight down the middle of the goal. Lovely early goal for the Royals!
From the restart Brown, obviously in the mood, had a strong shot on goal from the halfway line, which almost beat the keeper, very cheeky but would have been one to remember if it had gone in!
Gasson in defense and Archie Beattie, keeping goal for the Royals combined nicely in defense, working together as a team. Gasson displayed some nice moves coming out of defense confidently with the ball at his feet, twisting up his opponents who were bearing down on him and found Bliss on the right wing with a nice pass. This led to Brown getting on the ball in an advanced position and scoring into the side of the goal for his second!
Almost immediately from the restart Brown got his third and won his hatrick as he surged forward again, route one and scored with an accurate shot straight into the corner of the goal. Well done Brown, his hatrick was scored within 5 minutes, very impressive!
A good throw from Ben Gower up the right wing found his team mate, he then dug in and tenaciously marshaled two Royston Crow’s players from progressing up the wing.
As the game progressed Gasson showed time and time again the ability to come out of defense with the ball, keep the ball under pressure from his opponents and find team mates with nice passes, his confidence to do this grew the more he played. He also showed his never say-die-attitude, not letting that ball past him.
Alfie Perryman was lively throughout and worked hard up and down the pitch, intercepting the ball a number of times and tricking his way forward. Gower also continued to work hard for his team.
Beattie in goal, came for the ball many times and covered the ball well with his hands. This cost his Mum a few quid as he was on a 20p bonus as an incentive to use his hands when required!
Shortly afterwards Perryman made a couple of eager strong tackles in his opponents half to win the ball, he then broke free and scored a lovely goal from outside of the box on the left hand side, his accurate, well-struck shot from ten yards found the corner of the goal for the Royals’ 4th of the game, as the first half came to an end.
The second half got underway with some good work from Beattie in goal, then the Royals had a good bit of possession in their opponents half. The game continued in the same vein as the first half with the Royals on top.
Soon after Gasson pushed and fouled the opponents number 7, as he bore down on goal. For the resulting free kick just outside of the box the Royals set up with a three-man wall. The first wall the Royals have ever built! This tactic worked well with the powerful shot hitting the wall and the ball went just wide. Brave defending from the Royals!
The Royals then conceded their first goal of the game, losing possession near their opponents box, the ball broke to a Crows’ player, who went on a lovely run and scored from an acute angle from the right side of the goal. The Crows got their second almost immediately from the restart to close the deficit to half.
A frenetic period of the game ensued with end-to-end action. Brown with another of his runs forward overran the ball a little to allow their keeper to smother the ball. Then back the other end Archie ran the full width of his box to collect the ball under pressure. Soon after Beattie displayed good decision-making coming off his line to gather the ball. Then the Royals scored their fifth of the game and Brown with his fourth as he intercepted a ball just outside of the Crows’ box and slotted home. Brown really is becoming a potent goal threat for his team.
The game ended with all parents having watched a good competitive entertaining match, thanks to all boys involved for the show!!