At the Althea Scatliffe Football Grounds, Cedar U7s punched above their weight in all facets of the game to upend a determined Seventh Day football team 3-0 yesterday afternoon. Carrying the heavy burden of being “first-up” for all Cedar football teams in this year’s BDO Primary After School League, the young crop of Cedar football stars shrugged off early nerves to win in convincing style in all three thirds of the pitch. “They have set the high standard for all the Cedar teams to follow” commented one of the coaching staff. This year sees Cedar enter 1 U7 team, 2 U9 teams, 2 U12 teams and at least 1 U14 team into the competition. Coach Walter reminded everyone that Cedar’s focus remains on player/team development rather than focusing on the score line. “While it can be hard to do in the midst of a nail biting game, we are going to try our best as coaches to focus on our real goals and to emphasize what we are coaching in practice”.
As always, Cedar’s end of the stadium was a sell out shouting encouragement to all the players. Cedar’s defense was resolute starting with Joshua Noblett-Diaz and Alexander McKenzie who continually frustrated the two key strikers of Seventh Day. Both Joshua and Alexander were key in keeping a clean sheet together with the standout goal keeping of young Sam Sorrentino in the first half and Ethan Singh in the second half. Ethan in particular being the busier of the two in the second half as Seventh Day searched for an equalizer.
It was early in the first half that rookie sensation Ethan Singh would open his goal scoring account after some extremely hard work to create a scoring chance. A lovely finish found the back of the net as the net bulged with the force of the kick – the beautiful finish equaled in finesse only by Ethan’s goal celebration that took him around the pitch like a 747. His celebration seemed to calm everyone down including coaches and travelling supporters who could all be seen with smiles from ear to ear. The relief was evident for everyone after another Ethan (Ethan Mohamed) had missed agonizing wide of both posts earlier in the game on two brilliant plays.
Further relief came in the form of an own goal from one Seventh Day player who for one moment forgot which goal they were scoring on. The second goal saw the introduction of girl power – rookies Elsie Ormond and Zarah Macdonald were introduced to the approving roar of the Cedar crowd. Both played with determination and desire in their first ever competitive football match.
The energy and high tempo play was evident from the start noted Coach Walter. He was not surprised given the energy displayed in the pre-game work-out that saw players loosen up on the playground set and performing rugby tackles on each other. Mateo Baa led the parade in this department and just missed opening up the game with a shot that fizzed just wide of the goal. Zac Richards was also key in keeping the team buzzing and made several crunching midfield tackles for the Cedar team. Sam Sorrentino playing striker in the second half was notable for his composure and just missed getting his own goal with a shot that went just wide of the upright. It was Ethan Mohamed that instead would score the important third goal with a much deserved goal that found the corner of the goal – a precision shot practiced over and over on Saturday morning football provided much needed breathing space for the young Cedar team who would see out the game keeping the clean sheet.
Next game is this Thursday evening against Bregado Flax. “It will be a good early test for the players” remarked Coach Walter. Bregado Flax are well coached and always well organized.