Marlborough Rovers U8’s vs Barton – March 15th

A return match against Barton, who soundly thrashed us 5-2 on our first meeting. The weather was much more friendly, mild and still and the boys were looking to see off the only team in the league who could do “the double” over them.

The starting line up was Kieran in goal, Glenn and Bobby in defence, Jacob and JT in midfield and Harry and Dom upfront. The first action of the half saw Barton win a corner but we successfully defended that and were soon threatening at the other end. Dom was put clean through by Harry, but Barton’s enormous keeper smothered his shot. I’m not saying this lad was playing above the age limit, but I swear his wife and kids were cheering him on from the sidelines.

It was end to end stuff and every unsuccessful Barton attack was returned with interest. A fantastic dive was performed by Jacqui Berrows after a stray ball – worth noting in case Kieran is ever unavailable! A huge goal kick from Glenn, was chased by Dom, but it ended up reaching the keeper before he could get his toe on it. Another attack down the left found Dom firing in from the by-line, but the angle was too tight to squeeze it in.

Marlborough’s best chance came from a corner. On advice from the Manager (or Dad as Harry is allowed to call him), Harry chipped his corner into the six yard box. The clearance fell to Bobby, patrolling just outside the box. He fired in a shot on target, but a Barton defender headed it up and over his bar.

Marlborough had much the better end of the first half. Breaking down the left, Harry slipped a perfectly weighted ball across to Dom, but again the keeper thwarted him. The final action of the half saw Jacob have a long range shot, but it glanced past the post leaving it 0 – 0.

We were nearly caught cold at the start of the second half. Straight from the kick off, Barton attacked down the right and a shot flew across the face of the goal. In our next attack Bobby had another shot, picking up the pieces from a corner, but that was repelled. Jack then came on for Jacob (Harry dropping to right mid) and Lewis went on upfront in place of Dom. Then Barton were straight back down attacking our goal. After that danger had passed we pushed Barton back again and under intense pressure their keeper picked up a backpass, giving us a free kick. It was so close to the goal that it didn’t really give Harry much room for manoeuvre. He managed to put it in low to the right hand post. It was stabbed away and a few seconds of pinball occurred before Barton cleared it to safety.

Barton then had their best spell of the game. A shot was taken by a Barton player and the ball hit a bobble just before he connected with it. Although he didn’t strike it cleanly, it was on target and it hit another bobble before it got to Kieran. He did well to hang on to it as it shot up from expected shin height to waist height. Kieran’s kicking from hand was strong today and that relieved some pressure, but Barton kept pushing in the last 5 minutes. Jacob came back on to replace Harry and Dom replaced JT but still Barton pushed. Kieran pulled off a tremendous flying save to his left pushing the ball safely around his left post and followed that up by grasping another Barton shot to his chest. Yet another Barton shot then flashed past his right post as Marlborough seemed to run out of steam. There was time for one last attack by Marlborough, forcing a corner, but when that came to nothing the ref blew for full time.

Final score: Marlborough Rovers 0 Barton 0
Marlborough Man of the Match: Bobby (awarded by Gary)