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Manager Mark O'Mahoney Assistant Gary Whittle |
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2 nd Sept 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs New Longton U9’s Result: Lost 0 - 12 Not the best start to the season! An experienced New Longton side showed no mercy as they subjected our eager, yet inexperienced side to countless waves of pressure, resulting in Lostock constantly losing possession gifting New Longton chance after chance. To be honest a difficult match for any Lostock player to make a mark on the game and although every player gave their all, Richard, the only player with any real experience slightly overshadowed the rest of the team to earn the man of the match award. 5 th Sept 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs Leyland Albion Blue U9’s Result: Won 4 – 3 Congratulations lads, first win of the season! A close end to end game that in my opinion, Leyland will have felt they didn’t deserve to lose. A far more evenly contested game by 2 pretty evenly matched sides but still a fantastic result considering the battering we received only 3 days earlier. Although a bit of a scrappy game to watch, players on both sides constantly wandering out of position all chasing the same ball, both sides still managed to create a few chances which Lostock took advantage of by half time leading 2 – 0 with goals from Richard and Nathan. Early in the second half Leyland managed to pull a goal back only for John to regain Lostocks 2 goal lead minutes later. Leyland again battled back pulling the score back to 3 – 3 with no more than 10 mins remaining by which time both Lostock and Leyland supporters would have settled for a draw. Neither side was for giving up though with both teams creating scoring chances. The winning goal came with only minutes left as Richard latched onto a loose ball in the area before burying it into the back of the net. Man of the match was a close call with several players getting on the score sheet this week but it was awarded to Daniel in goals for pulling off some important saves and denying Leyland any further goals.
9 th Sept 2007 : Penwortham St. Teresas Red U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Lost 7 – 0 Brought back down to earth with a bang! A confident start to the game as lostock appeared to be not only holding their own but also growing in confidence. 1 – 0 down at half time against a more experienced team at this stage of the season was encouraging. However when Penwortham made it 2 – 0 straight from the second half whistle things took a turn for the worse, panic to set in and Lostock’s confidence seemed to drain away. Heads and spirits dropped to the floor as the score line increased, 5 – 0 down and all 4 subs Jamie, Ellis, Adam and Daniel Wikholn were all called upon but to no avail as Penwortham eventually ran out 7 – 0 winners. After a dis-jointed, mistake ridden second half, Sam’s performance in the first stood out even more so and was awarded the Man of the match award for some confident tackling and clearances to hold off penwortham and keep the score down to a respectable 1 – 0 in the first half. 12 th Sept 2007 : Red Rose U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Lost 10 – 1 Didn’t stand a chance! In my opinion by far the best side we’ve come across to date. With at least 5 of their goals fired into the top corner from as far as 15+ yards out, defenders Sam and Ollie along with Daniel in goals never really stood a chance. Struggling to keep hold of the ball in attack and midfield along with several moments of confusion in defence and goals did nothing more than present Red Rose with chance after chance. All 4 subs were again introduced but by this point of the game couldn’t really be expected do much. Lostock did however manage to pull a goal back through Callum which unfortunately counted for little more than a consolation as Red Rose converted chance after chance to finish up 10 – 1 winners. Man of the match was awarded to John. Had this been against a more evenly matched team John performance would have most likely created numerous scoring chances. Not much more you can say about this game except, be ready for those long range shots in the return match! 16 th Sept 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs Aspull City U9’s Result: Lost 2 – 3 Where did that come from! After the lesson Red Rose taught us 4 days earlier this looked like a totally different team turning out for Lostock. Playing a team joint top of the league wasn’t exactly who you’d choose to play after 2 heavy defeats but to our surprise it appeared to have the opposite affect. By half time Lostock were not only leading with 2 goals from Richard but buzzing with confidence and denying Aspull any real chance of scoring. This however was to be short lived as straight from the start of the second half Aspull showed us just why they were joint top. Aspull’s began confidently passing the ball around giving Lostock the run around eventually pulling the score back to 2 -2 by which time Lostock seem to have run out of steam and just trying to hang on. With less than 5 minutes to hold on and Lostock thinking they’d pulled off a shock result Aspull struck their third and what was to be the winning goal. Final score 2 – 3, encouraging! Due to a fantastic all round team performance it was a difficult decision to name just one Man of the match but Richard just edged it with 2 goals which, on another day might just have won us the match.
23 rd Sept 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs Gregson Lane U9’s Result: Lost 0 – 17 Not for the faint hearted! Disaster, catastrophe call it what you will it wasn’t pretty (not for Lostock fans anyway). Take nothing away from Gregson Lane but Lostock were poor, very poor, the confidence they played with in the previous match appeared to have been washed away with the rain that came down during the warm up. Right from the off Gregson Lane pressed Lostocks goal scoring 4 goals in the first 10 mins. This seemed to set the tone for the rest of the match as heads went down and panic set in creating a mood amongt the team as gloomy as the weather. The final score 0 – 17 Man of the match was awarded to Ollie for yet another consistant performance in defence whilst being subjected to wave after wave of attacks throughout the whole game. 7 th Oct 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs Penwortham Town Red U9’s Result: Won 5 – 2 Second win of the season! With a free weekend the week after our biggest defeat of the season, a break appeared to be just what we needed. Encouragingly everyone, parents included volunteered to give up their first free Sunday morning in over a month for an extra training session. Playing a team worse off in the league than ourselves was considered not only an opportunity to learn new tactics but also seen as a must win game to ensure confidence didn’t drop any further. What a difference it seemed to make. Starting with a new defensive formation, Jordan making his debut with Ollie in defence allowing Sam to move up into midfield looked stronger defensively and after a nervy first five minutes, a few chances up front and some well timed tackles, helped to settle nerves. Instead of panicking, hoofing the ball out of play and passing the ball to that invisible player that the lads seem to like passing to, the lads started to take their time and work as a team. As the game developed so did the formation as Sam kept wandering back into what appeared to be his more natural position, defence; Jordan took the opportunity to venture forward which, seemed to balance out the team even more so. By half time we were dictating the game with John playing the game of his life winning every tackle and creating chance after chance for the strikers. By half time Lostock were 2 – 1 up with a goal from Richard and a cracker from Callum. In the second half Lostock carried on where they left off, brimming with confidence creating chance after chance. Before long Lostock were 4 – 1 up with another from Richard and a debut goal from Jordan who by this point had converted from defender to Midfielder and now onto striker, taking the ball from just past the half way line, rounding the keeper and firing the ball into an empty net. With a 3 goal advantage the opportunity was taken to give Adam some goal keeping experience who, unfortunately had no real chance of stopping a shot into the top corner making it 4 – 2. With 5 mins remaining subs Ellis and Nathan combined to make it 5 – 2, Ellis ran at the keeper who managed to get a hand to the ball only to push it into the path of Nathan to put the ball into an empty net. The Man of the match award was an easy choice this week, even though everyone had put in their best performance to date, no one could disagree John Watson was outstanding! Johns afternoon was spoiled only by his long range effort that appeared to go in off the underside of the cross bar being disallowed. 14 th Oct 2007 : Lostock Hall U9’s Vs Brinscall Blue U9’s Result: Lost 2 – 4 Lost opportunity? This wasn’t what was meant to happen, playing a team whose previous results and league position were no better than our own combined with the confidence built up from last weeks win, suggested we should get another result? Wrong! Straight from the off you could see the team who confidently passed the ball around creating loads of goal scoring opportunities the previous week just hadn’t turned up this week. Even so Lostock did manage to take the lead with a great ball from Callum through to Richard, who drove it the bottom right hand corner of the net. Not long after though Brinscall took the lead, first from close range and then a goal from a free kick which brinscall were awarded after the ref had judged Olivers scuffed clearance to be a back pass to the keeper. From this point on it wasn’t pretty, after the disappointment of the free kick and a penalty appeal turned down the lads appeared to become dejected and as in previous games panic started to set in. Constantly losing possession, wandering out of position and backing out of tackles it started to lock like becoming an up hill struggle until Lostock got a break in the Brinscall penalty area with Callum managing to stab home another to make it 2 – 2. Unfortunately though this didn’t manage to lift Lostock who continued to panic whenever in possession, giving the bal away resulting in Brinscall adding 2 further goals to finish the game 2 - 4 winners. Difficult to name a Man of the match after such a disappointing performance, however the award for given to Sam for exhibiting great leadership skills. Keeping his head up starting to learn from training. 21 st Oct 2007 : Croston U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Lost 5 – 1 Encouraging! After the disappointment of last week’s performance this was a far more encouraging performance especially considering we were down 2 players from our regular starting 7 After missing a good opportunity for another 3 points last week, getting some points from this match was viewed as a far more difficult task especially with Croston 8 places above us in the league. With Jordan moving back into his less favoured position in defence to replace Ollie, Jamie’s inexperience in attack and Nathan getting his chance in midfield, expectations were not quite as high as the previous week. However, the score line didn’t really reflect the performance. Jordan not exactly thrilled to be back in defence had an outstanding game with the only real criticism being trying to do a little too much. Jamie with few real chances to speak of put in a confident performance considering the little match time he’s previously had and Nathan seemed to have grown in confidence since his last outing. The first half was pretty evenly matched with Croston probably having the greater chances but only managing to gain a 1 – 0 lead. Lostock IMO had the better chances though, with Nathan twice carving out chances out of nothing carrying the ball from the half way line before taking maybe one step too many allowing the keeper to get hold of the ball. In the second half Croston started to carve out more and more chances showing their greater experience with a well organised a team performance. Before long Croston had added 2 more goals before Nathan who, seemed to grow in confidence more and more as the game went on got 3 rd time lucky with yet another run from just inside Crostons half but this time managing to time his shot just right to beat the keeper. Adam came on for jamie with 15 mins to go to try and add a little speed up front but by this time Lostock were beginning to lose their shape and getting caught out short in defence allowing Croston to score a fourth. With 5 mins to go Daniel was given a break from goals and sent up front with Ellis given a go between the posts but with the shape of the team broken down due to so many changes. Croston again overpowered Lostocks defence to score unmarked at the far post to finish the game 5 – 1 winners. Man of the match was awarded to Nathan for not only his goal but for getting over the disappointment of losing his starting place a few weeks ago and coming back a better player. 28 th Oct 2007 : Preston Pirates U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Lost 4 – 2 Everyone’s forgot their shooting boots!! How we didn’t win this game is beyond me! Had maybe a few more decisions gone our way and had a little more luck in front of goal, we would surely have come away with something more from this game. Straight from the kick off Lostock piled on the pressure, creating chance after chance in front of goal whilst the impressive defensive partnership of Sam and Jordan seemed to brake down any attempt on goal from Pirates. However no matter how much Lostock pressured Pirates defence, they just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. Nathan who appears to be growing in confidence with each match terrorised Pirates left wing time and time again but couldn’t quite finish the job. Jamie starting only his second game showed some intelligent vision and passes but also couldn’t quite find a way though. Then against the run of play Pirates found a man free on the right who caught Daniel off guard to open the scoring. Not long after though Lostock’s pressure paid off when Pirates hand balled a cross from the right, from which Callum fired the penalty into the top right hand corner. Pirates then started to come back into the game putting pressure onto Lostocks defence finding a man free on the left who scored a fantastic goal by chipping the keeper from about 10 yards out. Lostock’s defence, slightly flustered by the second goal then let the same guy slip by only minutes later and cheekily try the same again. Luckily for us it went over this time. 2 – 1 down at half time seemed at tad unlucky and not a true reflection of the first half in my opinion. At the start of the second half changes were made. Richard came on for Jamie, Callum made way for Jordan to move up front and Oliver came on to fill in for Jordan in defence. Straight from the whistle Lostock went on the attack but yet again just couldn’t find the net or when they did find the target Pirates impressive keeper saved everything thrown at him. Then just as Pirates had done in the first half, Lostock handled in the area to give Pirates a penalty and the chance to stretch their lead. However Pirates fired the penalty too close to Daniel who managed to block the shot taking the sting out of it just managing to stop it rolling over the line, unfortunately soon after Pirates did manage a third from a goal mouth scramble. With about 10 minutes to go Lostock appeared to be losing their shape, John who usually glides down the left wing with ease was struggling with the boggy conditions and Jordan was tiring up front. Callum came back on for John, Oliver and Jordan swapped positions and Adam replaced Daniel in goals. With only a few minute to go Oliver pounced on a loose ball when the keeper fumbled to make it 3 – 2. Only minutes to go and the chance of coming away with a deserved point seemed a strong possibility only for Pirates to shatter the illusion and score a fourth. Game over! Man of the match was again a close call, with several players laying claim, it was awarded to Jordan for an outstanding defensive display. 3 rd Nov 2007 : Brinscall Blue U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Won 1 – 2 Well deserved win! After a poor performance against Brinscall in the home fixture only a few weeks earlier this was a chance for the lads to redeem themselves. Hoping the lads would build on improved performances over the past few weeks and previous experience of this team, we were a little more confident of coming away with something from the game. Learning from the previous week’s game more changes were made to the line up. Jordan fell back into defence with Sam (New Team Captain) whilst Oliver started up front for the first time. Straight from the kick off Brinscall gave the ball away to Nathan on the right wing, he raced off down the wing before crossing into the box forcing Brinscall to clear for a corner. From then on the first half was end to end with Lostock probably edging it with a solid defensive display limiting Brinscall’s shooting opportunities and leaving Daniel very little to do in goal. With little more than 10 minutes gone Lostock took the lead, Oliver finding himself unmarked on the left hand side of the penalty area, fired the ball across goal which, appeared to be wrong foot the keeper before slowly bouncing across the goal line. Much the first half was pretty even with Brinscall’s biggest threat coming from some well taken corners which, were well dealt with by a mixture of good defending from Jordan and maybe a touch of good luck. The second half carried on where the first left off with end to end action with Lostock still struggling to find that desperately needed second goal, even when fresh legs were introduced in the form of Callum and Jamie on for Oliver and Richard. Half way through the first half Brinscall who, were now having their best spell of the game pulled one back to make the game all square at 1 -1 with a thunderous volley that Daniel and 2 defenders on the line had little chance of stopping. On previous occasions when conceding a goal Lostock heads seem to go down and panic sets in but not on this occasion, not only did they not panic, they created more and more chances. First pressuring Brinscall into a back pass to the keeper, forcing a free kick in the box then, a Brinscall defender hand balled a goal bound effort from John presenting Lostock with a penalty with only minutes left on the clock. Oliver who had since come back on took the responsibility, scoring with a thunderous strike that no doubt left the unfortunate but very impressive Brinscall keepers fingers tingling for some time after. Game over! Man of the match was yet again a very close call with a great all round team performance, however the award with given to Sam for yet another dependable defensive display, always being on hand to do the mopping up at the back. 11 th Nov 2007 : Penwortham Town Red U9’s Vs Lostock Hall U9’s Result: Won 0 – 5 2 wins on the bounce! Considering the score line when Lostock beat Penwortham Town back at Mercer Road only a few weeks earlier along with the confidence built on from the previous week’s victory, Lostock appeared to make hard work of this one. As we’ve witnessed in the past few games although Lostock are creating plenty of chances they’re struggling to goals and finish teams off. Had Lostock been a little more confident in front of goal the 0 – 5 score line, although impressive, could and probably should have (in my opinion) finished up in double figures in Lostocks favour. No dis-respect to Penwortham town but with yet another impressive performance from Sam and Jordan in defence, Lostock never really looked like losing this game. Penwortham, who to be fair are not one of the stronger team in this league put up a good defensive display in the first half limiting Lostock to only a handful of goal scoring opportunities and keeping the score line down to 2 – 0. Oliver opened the scoring with an early goal, the second coming from Richard who appears to be rediscovering his early season form, dribbled the ball past a defender before shooting wide of the keeper. Sam and Jordan in defence appeared to cope with relative ease with any pressure from Penwortham giving Adam in goals plenty of protection leaving him very little to do but wait patiently should he be called into action. In the second half Lostock began to take charge, growing in confidence and Penwortham appearing to tire a little. Richard and Callum up front with help from Nathan and John they created chance after chance but just couldn’t find the back of the net. 10 minutes into the second half Lostock pressure finally paid off, an in swinging corner from Oliver found Jordan a little more than 3 yards out who, made no mistake finding the back of the net. Then only minutes latter Richard found Callum totally unmarked on the left with all the time in the world to line himself up before blasting the ball past the keeper. With about 15 minutes remaining Jamie replaced Callum up front who in turn replaced John in midfield, Lostock carried on creating chance after chance but Penwortham’s luck still seemed to be holding out, with Jamie denied several half chance by Penwortham’s keeper collecting the ball well. Penwortham’s luck finally ran out though when Nathan’s shot from the right was cruelly deflected into Penwortham’s own net. Only 5 minutes remaining, Oliver was re-introduced in place of Nathan to add a little more fire power up front but still Lostock couldn’t capitalise on several more occassions. In the end it was a fair result with Lostock deserved winners, however let’s not get too carried away. Lostock will no doubt need to sharpen up in front of goal if they’re to get a result out of the teams higher up the league! Man of the match was yet again awarded to a defender. Although Richard put in a good all round performance, yet another impressive defensive display from defensive duo Sam and Jordan was too difficult to ignore especially when shutting out the opposition for the second week running. Therefore Jordan ’s strong defensive display along with a goal for good measure just turned it in his favour.
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