Neath FC Academy roundup

Neath FC (U13s) v Cambrian and Clydach

Sunday 2^nd October, 2011

On Sunday 2^nd October, Neath FC U 13’s played against Cambrian and Clydach in their first academy match of the season.

It was a good encounter, when both teams committed to the cause and looking to play football.  Neath looked the more composed side and their shape was causing Cambrian trouble. 

Neath dominated the first period and took a 2-0 lead into the break, with Tyler Brock and Kieran King scoring the goals,  The second half began well, with a wonderfully converted goal from Tyler Brock.  Cambrian got one back through a free kick to make it 3-1.  But the impressive Alex Giardelli scored a wonder goal to make it 4-1.  Cambrian got a late consolation goal, after some sloppy defending, but overall, it was a thoroughly deserved victory with some very promising performances.   Well done lads!

NEATH FC U16

Neath FC (U16s) v Cambrian and Clydach

Cambrian and Clydach 2-2 Neath FC
Venue: Michael Sobell Sports Centre, Aberdare

On a bright morning, finally the first fixture of the campaign could get underway. The conditions were perfect for our style of play with the ball zipping around and for the first ten or fifteen minutes we were fully in control. It's fair to say we looked very comfortable right from the start with goalkeeper Lloyd Wheeler not seeing much of the action.

 It was clear to see the boys had been listening over the summer and taking on board what had been explained to them by coach Leon Dennis, as even with his absence they played exactly the same way and tried to play possessive football from the back.

But as we know keeping the ball and playing well doesn't always mean you win games and with that an ambitious strike from a Cambrian player deflected up and over keeper Wheeler for a very harsh goal. There was nothing he could do about it, and after making a great one handed save moments earlier, we felt hard done by.

The boys kept creating and kept playing the same way which was clearly encouraged by Adam Robbins and skipper Niall Hayes.

Cambrian were a determined side with some good individual quality. They closed us down and made it hard. They were strong, physical and very competitive.

The midfield trio of Liam Ferro, Lewis Eynon and Jay Morris were starting to cause more problems and this was shown when C&C had a player booked after a few heavy challenges on Ferro. Some good wide play from Rhys Adey and Callum Lupton was starting to show and that a goal was on the horizon if we kept it up. Dan Rowe was linking up well with Lupton down the left and two fantastic diagonal balls from Ashley Sommerville at centre half showed that we were more than capable to mix up our passing patterns.

The hard work was rewarded when good intricate play from the midfield led to striker Chay Davies being brought down in the area. Penalty. Davies himself took the kick and hit it too well, sending the keeper the wrong way, but hitting the bar. It was a mark of Chay's character to take it himself on his debut for the club and for the other lads to rally around him after the miss.

Half time: Cambrian and Clydach 1-0 Neath FC

 A host of changes at half time saw nearly a new side take the field. The approach was exactly the same: keep the ball regardless. It's about a mentality for these boys to progress and to become comfortable footballers who in two or three years time are able to challenge in the Youth and 1st teams, not necessarily about winning every game, and that has been and will continue to be made abundantly clear.

We started well with the fresh legs and were soon rewarded when, after a great move involving no less than six players, Josh Maccarinelli was played through the gap, cut in from the left and curled superbly into the far corner.

 We carried on in this manner and looked fairly sound at the back with Kyle Evans and Mitch Foster winning most in the air. Not everything was going our way, but the boys were showing the desire to keep the ball and play like they had been asked to.

 Cambrian started to look more dangerous going forward and took the lead when their striker cut in from the left and sent a rocket into the far top corner, it really couldn't have been a better strike. This gave Cambrian great impetus to get forward and really take the game to us with keeper Celern Thorpe making a few good stops.

We kept playing our way, with new midfield pairing Jake Waites and Josh Phillips trying to get the ball wide as soon as possible getting Harry Walton forward from right back. We started to cause more problems. Jonny Evans was looking for everything in and around striker Scott Williams and after a brief five or ten minutes spell we composed ourselves and controversially got our rewards. Maccarinelli raced clear and was adjudged to have been brought down outside the area by the C&C keeper. Very harshly the keeper was given a red card as he didn't seem to make any contact and if anything it was the chasing full back that sent him down. Jay Morris stepped up to put the resulting free kick into the top corner from a rather acute angle.

 Encouraged by the sending off, the boys really started to take the game to C&C but were beginning to lose sight of our game plan. We started to knock long hopeful balls and looked less and less dangerous and were lucky not to concede on the counter attack.

The boys will learn, but I can't fault the effort and enthusiasm and more importantly until the last ten minutes we kept the ball and played very well. Overall we were unlucky not to win, neither keeper could do anything about the two goals, and we got two crackers. An entertaining game and a lot of positives from the performance.

Man of the Match: Scott Williams

Next up: Sunday 9th October - Haverfordwest County at Pontardawe Leisure Centre.

Feel free to come and support the boys

NEATH FC U19

Neath FC (U19) v Llanelli

UNDER 19s IN SIX GOAL THRILLER!

LLanelli 3 - Neath 3

Neath under 19's drew 3 -3 on Monday night at Stebo in a thriller of a game.

The Eagles dominated the opening half hitting the cross bar from open play twice and kept pressing high to keep LLanelli pegged back with only their long ball tactics relieving the pressure.

Neath continued to create chances but fell behind against the run of play to a dubious free kick on the edge of the box on 26 minutes.

With Neath playing the more creative football they were back on level terms on 36th minutes when centre forward Joe Jones' low drive deflected into the bottom corner.

The home side was rocked in the second half as Neath's passing style carved open the Llanelli defence for left winger Christy Gale to cut inside to shoot into the net at the near post.

On the hour a Neath corner fell to Rhys Dezulian who shot through a crowded area to fire passed the LLanelli keeper to take a 3-1 lead.

Llanelli continued to pump the ball forward and snatched two goals back to end the match all square.