U12 Mellor v Stockport

Mellor v Stockport 10/10/2020

‘Keep calm and stay organised’

Following on from the result last week at Cheadle Hulme, there was an air of positivity around the boys as we made the anticipated trip to Mellor Sports Club.

Due to heavy, overnight rain there was a pitch inspection at 08:30 and albeit being a bit boggy behind one of the goals, the decision was given that the surface was playable.  

Earlier in the week, Mellor indicated that they were short of a few player's so they played a couple of inexperienced older boys to bolster their team. We, on the other hand, took a full complement of 13 players which disappointingly meant no start for young Josh Livesey due to the maximum bubble size, 13.  I am sure he will get some game time later in the season.

The weather was OK to start with but deteriorated during the match and at one point the rain can only be described as torrential. For some unknown reason Dan Clarke’s umbrella seemed to let more water onto his coat than it repelled (Deborah, a new umbrella for Christmas maybe)?

The game started slowly and we finished the first quarter 3-2 with Stockport goals from Henry and Ethan.

Onto the second quarter and we seemed more positive with goals from Henry, Tom and Ethan. Our play was better, but Mellor responded each time to extend the score to 8-5.

We seemed like a team of two groups but the constituent parts didn’t equate to one. The defence were struggling for organisation and I think this unsettled our keeper whose distribution wasn’t as crisp as the previous week. Our attack options were good but again we gave the ball away too many times and a team like Mellor were always going to take advantage.

Q3 was a quiet affair and in Q4 we only scored twice to make the final score 14-7.

In summary, today’s game was a mixed bag, played in trying conditions. This Stockport team CAN win fixtures but the players need to be more organised within themselves and follow the basics like picking up a player and staying with them. With this in mind we reflect on the title of today’s blog… ‘Keep calm and stay organised’. We know that the boys have the physical attributes and the talent to compete against any team but the lack of consistency in decision-making and lack of organisation that they displayed today has demonstrated that they will ultimately lose games. For now, let’s put this game to bed, learn from our failings and pick our heads up for the next one!