Cranleigh’s second home game of the season played in great conditions being a mild still evening and with a slick surface to play football on. Unfortunately, due to an injury during the day and a last minute unforeseen availability the match day squad of 16 was reduced to 14, which impacted on flexibility in the later part of the game.
Cranleigh started with a 3-5-2 line up against a very strong and confident Holmesdale team although after early exchanges Cranleigh did have a number of good opportunities which they were unfortunate not to be able to exploit with close misses and good goal keeping seeing the score sheet remain at 0-0. Cranleigh tried to exploit the wide areas with Luca Ellis, (one of the under 16’s who has impressed so far this season), and Owen Bartlett trying to push forward where possible. However, Holmesdale adapted quickly and soon began to move into the space behind the wide areas so stretching the defensive capabilities of Cranleigh’s two holding midfield players, Ciaran Lynch and Tom Barker, who have both started the season so well. Mid way through the first half Holmesdale won the ball in the centre and with a speculative shot creeping into the right hand corner so giving the visitors a 1-0 nil lead. Cranleigh’s heads did not go down and straight from the kick off a long pass deep into Holmsdale’s half was kept alive and a break of the ball fell to George Hughes who fired left footed under the advancing goal keeper and the game was level pegging once more.
With Holmesdale now in the ascendancy Cranleigh switched to a 4-3-3 formation to try and restrict the space in their own half. A Craneligh attack broke down and a swift break and some good skill from the Holmesdale number 11, (who was a handful all night), saw him run half the length of the pitch before calmly rolling the ball home. A jubilant Holmesdale went into half time with a 2-1 lead.
The second half started with Charlie Dyer replacing the ever reliable Ollie Ferrier who was carrying a back injury, and with a slight tactical tweak seeing Jamie Kaffo moving to left back and Charlie Dyer moving seamlessly into the middle with Jack Coleman. With Isaac Collins, (another of our impressive under 16’s), pushing forward to support the front line Cranleigh were now the dominant team and a swift break saw Aaron Alderton very unlucky to see his chip deflect off the head of the Holmesdale defender and onto the bar. No matter, the pressure was maintained and some excellent determination and foot work saw Aaron fire a cross to the far post which was tucked home by George Hughes and just reward for his tireless work on the evening. A tiring Tom Barker, (playing his third game in three days), made way for Felix Butler who continued where Tom had left off making some excellent interceptions and good forward passes to keep Cranleigh pushing forward. Harry Nicholas, (another under 16 stepping up two years), replaced Luca Ellis, the coaching staff knowing full well that Harry’s relentless energy would help to stem any efforts Holmesdale would make in trying to play from the back.
However, the lack of additional substitutes now started to tell with Aaron Alderton struggling with cramp and Cranleigh effectively down to 10-men the tide of the game turned in Holmesdale’s favour and it was only some excellent goal keeping by Matthew Forrester that kept the scores level. Still Holmesdale pressed and with the clock ticking down Cranleigh were hanging on, although with ‘captain’ Jack Coleman leading by example and winning headers and tackles at will to keep the opposition at bay and in the dying seconds a fantastic tackle by Jamie Kappo ensured the game finished at 2-2.
A great evenings entertainment for those that saw the game with the performance of all 14 boys an absolute credit to Cranleigh Youth F.C. Bring on the next game!!!
