For once it wasn’t raining and we had a pitch that wasn’t knee deep in mud. This week saw the U14’s travel to Crawley for a relegation battle clash. It was a must win scenario for Cranleigh.
We started with the bare eleven which didn’t bode too well but the boys were all keen having not played for a few weeks.
Cranleigh started well with some good attacking moves where Josh F, Harvey and Zach got the ball through to Ben C, Liam and Ben B. Crawley always looked dangerous in the break with some quick attackers and against the run of play, Crawley shot down the left and cut the ball back to their waiting centre forward who confidently put it in the back of the net 1-0. Not the start we wanted but the boys rallied and a few minutes later, Liam slotted a beautiful through ball to Ben C who calmly slide it past their keeper 1-1
The game remained very competitive for the remainder of the first half with both teams having several chances but our defence of Ben S, Greg, Will C & Sam with Will D in goal held strong and kept their quick forwards at bay.
The second half started well and Cranleigh were the dominant side. They played some nice passing football and created several chances but some fine goal keeping and defending kept the score at 1-1. Eventually Ben C got himself on the end of a nice through ball from Harvey 1-2
It remained fairly tight right to the end with both teams having chances. Crawley had a goal disallowed and Liam came close hitting the post. Eventually a counter attack from Cranleigh saw Harvey slot another ball through to Ben C who calmly put it inside their keeper’s near post, claiming his hat trick and putting the game beyond Crawley.
All in all, every single member of the team performed superbly and got the result they both needed and deserved
Men of the Match – Ben C and Will C
