Under 16 Manager : Chris Burge.    Email : Chris Burge

Under 16 Coach : Dave Howorth.   Email : Dave Howorth

SEASON 2009/10

Season 2008/09 

Saturday 21^st March 2009

Result : W&E 1 - 5 Bracknell Celtic

We got off to a disappointing "sleepy" start and they went 3-0 up after about 15 minutes -we had the chance to clear all three goals but we didn't do the simple thing and clear our lines.

At this point and the way we were playing I thought we could be in for a real drubbing. But instead for the last 20 minutes of the half we woke up, started to put ourselves about, started to scrap for the ball and started to compete. With this the game became much more even and we scored a goal to make it 1-3 at half time.

We continued along the same lines in the second half and if we had scored the next goal it would have been game on but unfortunately 20 minutes in Celtic scored their fourth which took the game away and then a fifth 10 minutes from the end.

We did create some chances notably their goalie pulling off a good save from Lazo & Kyle's chance following a shot from distance by Mitch.

I was pleased with the way you kept going - we only had 2 subs, Matt came off in the first half and we took & were carrying some other injuries.

I thought George had a great game - full of energy & work rate, same with Dariusz in the middle of the park and Chris J did well in keeping strong against their big and good centre forward. 

Our goal was scored by Lazo.

Credit to both Andrew Burge & Matt Gagie for coming along to support despite not being able to play through injury.

Indoor training at Emmbrook Tuesday 7-8pm.

Outdoor training at Cantley Wednesday 6-7pm.

No game this Saturday 28th March - I have postponed till after Easter.

No league game 4th April - I may try to arrange a friendly.

No game 11th April - Easter.

League game vs Whitegrove Tigers 18th April.

On Wednesday 1st April - rather than Cantley training we will have a meeting/bit of fun at Lowther Road clubhouse (as we did before Xmas).

As before we will run a quiz competition, soft drinks/snacks will be available and we will talk through arrangements and what you want to do for 1/ the rest of this season (games & training 2/ summer tournaments and 3/ next season. Please attend if at all possible - this is your team and we want to hear what you want. Parents are very welcome.

Thanks

Dave

Saturday 28th February 2009

W&EFC 2 - 0 Yateley

A really good performance & thoroughly deserved win.

You looked a really solid team from Joe in goal right through defense, midfield & up front.

I thought there were 3 key "ingredients" to this performance :

Firstly your attitude was good - your work rate was good, you were prepared to challenge for everything, you worked much harder than in previous games when you didn't have the ball.

Secondly and as a consequence of the above point you kept a good team shape....we always looked balanced. 

Thirdly, you did the simple things well - in particular simple passes to feet. When you concentrate on doing simple things well rather than over-complicate you are a far better team.  

Our first goal was scored by George showing good composure in front of goal to slide past their goal with his left (?) foot. Lazo scored our second within 5 minutes of the half time restart showing great pace to get past their defense to drill the ball past their goalie.

We could have had a few more with two disallowed goals (one definitely dubious), Lazo had a great effort hit the inside of the post and a number of other opportunities. 

The new guys are coming along well, Matt G had a great 60 minutes in the centre of mid with Kyle & was a big reason why we had a good shape, Dan is getting more & more up to speed & Josh came on made his presence felt !

There was no MotM award this week, but instead a big well done to Jerome/Tom/Barney/Chris J in defense - you have taken some stick this season, but a clean sheet was great & you looked solid throughout. 

Let's try & take the things that we did well into our next game - whilst we should be pleased with our performance, we still need & can improve on this.

Next Saturday we play Darby Green at home/Lowther Road with a 9.30am Kick off.

Please advise ASAP if you cannot play.

Indoor training at Emmbrook 7-8pm Tuesday & outdoor at Cantley on Wednesday 6-7pm.

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Saturday 14^th February 2009

W&EFC 2 - 1 Ashridge

A bit of a lacklustre performance from us but nonetheless a welcome and just about deserved win.

This was a friendly against Ashridge who are at the top of Div 3.

Overall we had the balance of play and were the stronger and better of the two teams but we made hard work of winning the game.

In the first half I was disappointed by our low energy levels and lack of urgency - the game was flat and very quiet.  Whilst we did create a number of scoring opportunities it was Ashridge who took the lead with their quick forward getting into a one on one with Joe in goal.

The second half was better - there was a higher level of energy, we got much tighter to their players (particularly their forward) and we started to pass the ball better. We played by far our best football in the last 20 minutes because we made one big change to the way we played - we started to make the simple pass rather than trying to either make a complicated pass or run too far with the ball.

Once we started to play simple passing football, Ashridge couldn't stay with us and you created chance after chance.

Lazo scored both our goals including converting a penalty under pressure and in the mud five minutes from time.

However, for me the performance of the game came from Chris J who put the team first and took responsibility by doing a great man marking job on their (very good) striker. Chris stayed really tight on him wherever he went, gave him no space or time and as a consequence took him out of the game. He didn't make any great passes, go on any surging runs, score any goals - but he made the most significant contribution to the team.

It was great to see Dan get his first game for W&E and also to see Alex back in an Orange shirt.

Training is as normal on Wednesday.

As I advised below, next Saturday we play FC Bracknell away - I will advise arrangements as soon as I know.

As you can see we only have 12 confirmed players including Matt G (who has been injured) & Matt B (who may only be able to play the first half if it's a late start) - so please advise ASAP if availability changes.

Thanks

Dave

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Saturday 17^th January 2009

W&E 1 - 4 Woodley Saints Lions

This team were not 3 goals better than us.

We got off to a decent start and the game was fairly even, indeed we had a couple of chances to take the lead.

They then scored a goal out of nothing, a corner deflected in at the near post off of one of our players.

The game then continued fairly evenly but then in the last 10 minutes of the first half we made two individual errors at the back to gift them goals and at half time we were 0-3 down in a game that was fairly even.

In the second half again there wasn't much between the two sides and if anything we were creating more chances.

Chris James moved into central midfield which seemed to give us more strength and George played just behind Lazo.

And then against the run of play another individual error gifted them a fourth goal.

However, we kept going and if anything had the majority of play. We created a number of chances and Chris James scored with a cool & composed slot past the goalie into the corner of the goal.

I was really pleased with your attitude - you never gave up, kept playing and looking to get back into the game - no moaning and plenty of encouragement for each other.

Lessons learnt ?

- cut out the individual errors

- you have got to talk talk talk to each other

- touch tight..............Barney who isn't our quickest player showed what could be done when he stayed "touch tight" on their forward - he didn't give him space & he was forced to have his back to our goal.

MotM went to Lazo who showed a great spirit in never giving up, continually putting their players under pressure........indeed it was this passion and never say die attitude that led to him winning the ball that ended up with Chris scoring our only goal. 

Saturday 29^th November 2008

W&EFC 1 - 2 Whitegrove Predators

Two evenly matched teams and a close competitive match which Whitegrove won with a goal 5 minutes from time.

This was an improved performance on the previous week. We were more "up for it", we competed more strongly & we put in more work rate.

However, I still think we are much better than this performance. In particular I thought we gave the ball away far too much, I thought that we weren't disciplined enough in marking & closing players down and there were too many poor individual decisions made (in both defense & attack) . Whitegrove's first goal came straight from our goal kick when they won the ball unchallenged in midfield, the ball went striaght to their striker who had far too much space to create a one on one with Joe. Their second goal started with us having possession in defense on the left touchline, we had chance to clear but instead we gave possession away on the edge of our penalty area from which they scored. Losing Andrew after 5 minutes clearly didn't help but it gave Mitch an opportunity to play virtually a full game and he did well both attacking & defensively - for which he got the MotM award.

The champagne moment went to Lazo for his overhead bicycle kick goal - really well executed.........which came from a screamer of a volley by Josh which came back off of the crossbar.

Next week we play at Darby Green (between Sandhurst & Yately) with a 10.30am kick off.

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15th November 2008

Result : W&EFC 19 - 2 AFC Crowthorne

A very bizarre game - I think this is the first time that we have played against a team that hasn't had 11 players, let alone one that only had 8!

And I arrived at the game concerned that we only had 12 players including Lazo with a pulled hamstring.

Obviously it was very one sided but this wasn't your fault & you did everyhing you needed to & by the last quarter of the game were scoring at will.  

Last week we talked about learning from the game vs Eldon Celtic and one of the lessons was how hungry Eldon were right through to the last minute despite having the game well won - well you certainly learnt that lesson as you were still scrapping for the ball and looking for more goals even when we were 14-15-16 goals up.

Not surprisingly there were all sorts of goals :

- some from great pace & strength from Matt's runs down the right wing

- some nice chips over the goalie notably from Lazo & Andrew

- some great headed goals (Tom, Dariusz, Kyle) from terrific corners by Andrew

For the record the scorers were :

Matt – 4, Lazo – 3, Andrew – 3, George – 2, Jerome – 1, Joe – 1, Dariusz – 1, Barney – 1, Kyle – 1, Tom – 1, Josh – 1 

The champagne moment was tricky - Lazo ?(for the fastest recovery of a hamstring when he saw the opportunity for goals), Josh ? (for his first gaol for the club - a nice volley smashed into the roof of the net), Joe ? (for scoring after switching with Lazo), Barney ? (for getting his first goal), Jerome ? (for scoring to make it all 11 players on the pitch had scored).......

But it went to Tom who perfectly executed what we have been saying for a while - he went up for a corner, attacked the ball, made it his & put a bullet header past the goalie - to score his first goal for W&E.

And so at Crowthorne's expense we had some fun and we made a slight improvement to our goal difference !

But next week we play Bracknell Celtic, top of the league and unbeaten.............so back to business.

Saturday 8^th November 2008

Result : W & E 1 - 9 Eldon Celtic

Lets put this into perspective, Eldon are the best team in the area, they will win the Cup & they will win the Div 1 title. The other 6 games they have played this year have been against Div 1 teams and they have won every game scoring 52 & conceding 4 !

Before the game we talked about our objective was to make Eldon work for the result and bar a 10 minute spell toward the end of the game you did this really well & you can take a lot of pride in doing so. I think there were a whole range of things within the performance that you can be pleased with and that we need to take into our league games including :

- the work rate & committment levels were excellent

- you worked really hard at keeping the shape & discipline of the team - the second half of the first half in particular saw Eldon getting really frustrated as we put a shield up in mid-field which they found hard to break down

- you never stopped challenging & scrapping eg despite being a big & strong team we successfully defended all of their corners

- the team spirit was terrific - you worked for each other

And when after about 30 minutes we (Matt) scored to make the score 1-2 I thought we had them a little rattled!

After the game we talked about the fact that we should learn from playing the stronger teams & the key points that I noticed were :

- their will to win every challenge never lessened - even at the end 9-1 up they were scrapping for each & every ball.

- their fitness levels were way above ours - they train 3 times a week ! (maybe we should all be looking to attend the additional fitness training sessions when they start).

- they played with a lot of patience - they always wanted to retain possession of the ball even if this meant passing across the field or passing backwards

- they looked to get the ball wide & that is where most of their goals came from   

The champagne moment went to Dariusz for his headed clearance off the goal line of a bullet of a shot.

Saturday 27^th September 2008

Purley Jubilee Blue 2-8 W&E.

....and through to the next round of the cup !

In the first half I didn't think we played that well. There was a bit of complacency in that we were playing a team from Div 3 and it seemed to take them to score an equalising goal for some of you to realise that we needed to be fully committed. We didn't get the ball under control and play to feet and as a result we gave the ball away far too much and we never looked in control.

However, we did still finish the first half 3-1 to the good.

I was really pleased with the 2nd half display. We looked solid right across the team, we played the ball to feet much more and as a result 1/ we retained control of the ball and therefore control of the game and looked much stronger defensively 2/ in controlling the ball and the game you created chance after chance going forward.

The passing was much much better - we got the ball out wide and from there created many goal scoring opportunities, from defence we started to pass the ball out with shorter balls into our midfield and up front the interplay between Sam, Lazo & others was great.

Our goals were scored by :

Sean - 2

Lazo - 2

Sam - 3

Kyle - 1

The "Champagne Moment" went to Sean.......for a great display of long range shooting, he hit the bar twice, the post once in addition to his two goals & for showing no reaction & just getting on with the game when he took a few late challenges towards the end of the game.

In goal, Joseph's handling was very good and he was quick off his line when required.

Saturday 20^th September 2008

W&E 4 - 3 FC Bracknell

 

Well done to all who played yesterday in getting our first points of the season.

It was a very well deserved win and we should have won by a much greater margin than the odd goal in seven.

We started off by playing terrific football and kept this going for most of the first half. The passing & movement was excellent, we got the ball out wide and as a result we created chance after chance. Defensively we were strong & organised......Bracknell didn't know what had hit them.

We deservedly finished the first half 2-0 which was a fair reflection of how we dominated the game.

We started the second half okay but we didn't pass the ball as well and as a result Bracknell started to gain more possession. They grabbed a goal back but then Sam made it 3-1 and Mat took it to 4-1.

And that should have been it......but instead of closing the game out we started to get more & more nervous defensively, made a few errors and Bracknell grabbed a couple of goals to give us a very nervous last 5 minutes.

The champagne moment went to Sam......for wearing white gloves despite the temperature....oh and for scoring a hatrick of very well taken goals.

 

Key learnings ?

 

- when you play control-pass-move football and get the ball out wide, the other team can't get near you and you create chance after chance......we need to keep to this style of play.

- when we go two goals up we need to become more solid, not give the opposition anything and close the game out. The best way to do this is to keep possession of the ball by playing control-pass-move football, by keeping a disciplined shape to the team and avoiding mistakes in dangerous areas.   

 

Saturday 13.09.08   Woodley Saints Lions 3 - 1 W&E

The bad news............this was a disappointing result in that we should have picked up points from our first game and we didn't.

The good news...........for the majority of the game we were the better team and we will get better.

We were the stronger & much the better team in the first half. We created a number of chances, Sam hit the bar, Alex hit the post and we had a VERY strong shout for a penalty turned down. Kyle scored a cracking curling shot into the top left hand corner from outside the penalty area to take us to a deserved 1-0 lead.

The penalty decision would have given us the chance to go 2-0 up.Woodley hardly had a chance on goal in the first half, but scored in the 44th minute to make it 1-1 at half time.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half we seemed to lose our way, defensively we looked uncertain & wobbly & going forward we didn't get the ball out wide enough and we gave possession away too easily. Woodley were content to play the long through ball and as opposed to the first half we didn't deal with it very well. Woodley scored twice in this poor period - a scrambled gaol that we should have cleared & an over the top long ball which gave then a "one on one" on Jo.

For the second 20 minutes we regrouped, kept a better shape & took the game to Woodley and created 2 or 3 chances, which, with a bit more composure should have taken.

Season 2007/08  

Saturday 05-04-08

Wokingham & Emmbrook 1 - 0 Winnersh 

CHAMPIONS..........!

and you thoroughly deserve it. 

But first, the match.

For us to be mathematically certain of winning the league we needed a point from the game.

And I was really pleased that you learnt the lesson of last week in that you started really strongly...full of running, energy and an absolute commitment to force a win. We must have created 2 or 3 good chances within the first 10 minutes with incisive moves down both wings.

When we didn't have the ball everyone closed down, tracked back and challenged well.

From the start our defence was focussed, strong and kept a good shape.

And so we dominated the game and we just needed a goal to settle the game down.....and we continued to create some good chances playing some nice passing football. Their goalie was on good form and tipped a great effort onto the crossbar from Sam. 

Halftime 0-0 and the message was "keep it going, the goal will come". 

And you did, the football was excellent, move after move of really good passing football, some of the best you have played all season.......but would the goal come ?? Jeff hit the bar....Lazo hit the bar.....their goalie pulled off some good saves.

Was it going to be one of those days ?? Winnersh to get a sneak end of game goal ?? 

And then 10 minutes from the end Chris T came on and intercepted the ball in midfield, passed the ball out wide to Andrew who took the ball on and calmly slotted just inside the far post. 1-0 at last ! 

It would have been nice to win with a thumping scoreline, but in a way this was more impressive in that it would have been really easy for you to lose your cool, go chasing the game, get frustrated, but instead you kept your shape, stuck to your guns with good simple passing football and in the end you got your just desserts.

And just to say it once more.......your passing was excellent......out of defence, through midfield, up front laying the ball back, getting the ball out wide......really excellent. 

MotM went to Jeff who, having had a quieter time of it lately, played a blinder, not just going forward as he prefers to do, but his tracking back and defensive work was excellent and his passing going forward was terrific. 

And Champions......well as it happened Hurst only drew and therefore we will be Champions by at least 5 points, with bar the best goal difference and very likely the highest goals for and the least goals conceded.

You thoroughly deserve it because any winning team has to show a whole range of qualities which you have :

- you have played some excellent football

- you have shown great self-belief in the come backs that you have made

- when you have had to scrap it out....you have scrapped it out

- you have shown a great team spirit and togetherness

- you have got better and better as the season has progressed 

The East Berks Presentation night will be Thursday 15th May at Blue Mountain when the Winners, Runners Up & Fair Play awards will be presented. It would be great if all players & parents could attend. Unfortunately I am in the US on work that week & Chris away on a golfing week, however Andy Potter is already preparing his "Oscar" style speech. 

Training is at Aborfield on Wednesday. 

Dave 

Saturday 29-03-08

Wokingham & Emmbrook 3 - 2 Ashridge

Another hard earned win.......

Despite talking before the game that our biggest danger was being complacent and thinking that this would be an easy game, I think that's exactly what we did in the first half. As a result we probably played at something like 50% of our capability both in terms of effort and skill. We didn't deserve more than to be drawing 1-1 at half time.

However, for the second half you responded and started to play with the passion, energy and commitment that you have shown this season. But despite this Ashridge had a couple of quick lads up front and they were always capable of a breakaway goal and that's what they got early in the second half. 

Far from knocking you back, this made you raise your game even higher and from hereon in, in addition to playing with commitment you also started to get the ball on the ground and started to pass the ball around really nicely. We also switched to a 4-4-2 formation which worked well. Alex got the second equaliser of the game (having already got the first equaliser in the first half) and we were now totally dominating the game. We still had to be strong, fast and focussed in defence for when Ashridge played a long ball for their forwards, which we were.

Kyle then got the winner with a nicely taken free kick from outside & to the left of the penalty box.

Once again you showed great self belief in coming back from behind twice.

We had 3 subs and given the tightness of the game it was important to introduce a change and keep our balance at the right time. Alex came on late in the first half as I thought we needed to inject some energy - this wasn't a reflection on Tom but on the whole team, and Chris T only came on with only 5-10 minutes left but immediately did a job for the team in midfield.

This was a squad performance.

MotM went Kyle for his role in midfield - he was always available to take a pass and was at the centre of a lot of our best passing moves.

Next Saturday we play Winnersh at home 10.30am kick off.

As you can see from the website we need 1 point to be mathematically certain of being champions. However, don't expect Winnersh to be an easy game.........we need to be switched on and focussed and we will need to work hard.

In terms of availability I have everyone down as available except Alex & Henry - please advise if this is not the case. 

Training now moves to Arborfield 6-7pm.

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