Chesworth Youth kicked off and immediately started to play possession football without causing the Cranleigh defence to many issues, the first 20 minutes was a fairly balanced affair, a shot from Elliott in a central area went straight to the Chesworth keeper, followed by shots from Harry and Oliver that didn’t cause their keeper to many problems, by this time youth started to take control of the match, with Cranleigh not out of second gear, a shot on target was well saved by the Cranleigh keeper down to his left, before youth started to bombard the Cranleigh goal with several efforts, the best of which hit the inside of the right hand post off the other post into the grateful arms of the keeper. It wasn’t long before youth made the breakthrough though, the ball was lost in the Cranleigh midfield, and the Chesworth attacker slid the ball under the keeper to make it 0-1 to youth, by this time Chesworth were starting to dominate all areas of the pitch, and yet another attack was well saved and mopped up by the Cranleigh defence, the end finished with a couple of attacks from Cranleigh, a poor effort straight to their keeper, and another shot over the bar from Raul, 0-1 at the break.
The second half began with Cranleigh on the front foot, a corner from the blues was sent wide again not causing to many problems for the youth defence, and with youths first attack of the second half the ball was hit low beyond the keeper to make it 0-2 with heads starting to go down, the Cranleigh coaches were driving the boys on. Cranleigh knew they had to somehow get back into this game, a great attack was finished with a shot over the bar from Raul, before another effort from Dom made their keeper work, a corner from Cranleigh down the right hand side caused some confusion in the youth defence and a shot on goal looked like it had crossed the line, shades of ’66 was it or wasn’t it? The Cranleigh attack were appealing like they were claiming for an LBW at Lords but it wasn’t given, and with youth straight on the attack down the other end made it 0-3 after a mistake from the keeper. Another effort low down on the youth left hand side was again well saved from Jake, proving he had recovered after his error leading to the third goal. Cranleigh were showing signs of getting into the game although it seemed too little too late, a great effort from Dom was straight at the keeper, followed by a header wide from Raul, by this time the game began to go from end to end, and a penalty was given to youth, after it was adjudged handball from a shot two yards away from the offender, harsh but it was given, with the Cranleigh keeper making himself big in the goal, he saved the penalty well down to his left, he immediately sent the ball up field to Raul who tucked the ball away to make it 1-3. Tensions were rising, with some time wasting, late tackles and elbows being thrown about by the opposition, Cranleigh were attempting to rise above it with a flurry of shots on the Chesworth goal, but to no avail, the shots either flew wide or they were straight at the Chesworth keeper, a tough match all in all, and when Cranleigh tried to assert more pressure to the youths defence, again the ball was lost in midfield and before you knew it there were 4 attackers going through the Cranleigh defence like a knife through butter and then it was 1-4.
More time wasting caused the referee to have words with the very same repeat offender, the game finished with some tame efforts on goal from Cranleigh, they know that they were not at the races today, but we move on, there seems to be a lot to work on after this performance. Unsurprisingly there was no man of the match from the Cranleigh boys. Full time 1-4 .
Match Report by Alan Lightfoot
