Team Profile, Information and Match reports 12/13
Under 9’s Blacks
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Managers Profile: Name: Danny Dale What is your football background? Played up until the age of 16 and then discovered girls and beer the rest is history!! How long have you been involved with Pennine Juniors? 3 Years How long have you been managing a team? 2 Years What do you like most about managing a team? The involvement with the kids and inning games on a Saturday morning!! What do you find challenging when managing a team? Kids not listening and understanding what we are trying to tell them, we only want to help them develop but sometimes they are more interested in having a laugh and jumping on each other. What has been your funniest/best/ most memorable moment? Best memory was taking the lads to play in a competition at Liverpool’s academy in Kirby, Liverpool. We arranged a coach and arrived in style, we did really well and got to the semi-final and did the club and ourselves proud. It was a great day for the kids and the parents, just a shame it was at Liverpool and not Man City. Describe your team: Work in progress, never give up - we have lost a couple of players to academies so we are rebuilding and developing the lads we have got - we will have a team that can hold its own in the top division by Christmas. What are you focusing on in training? Passing, positioning and tackling - it’s kind of back to basics at the moment. Tell us the best game to date and why: Away to Prestwich Marauders in our first season- They had beaten us 3-2 the month earlier and that was the first game we had lost all year, we played them of the park that day but couldn’t get the ball in the net and at the end of the game all the parents ran on the pitch. 4 weeks later we had to reverse the fixture due to a waterlogged pitch at home. We turned up looking for revenge and we didn’t leave disappointed. Although we were without arguably our best player who thought it was a 10.00am kick off not 9.30 we started the game in amazing style and scored from our kick off with a stunning selection of Brazilian style passing and a great finish we were 1 up after 30 seconds. This continued and we were 4 up before half time and it could have been more. We ended up winning the game 6 nil and played the best pass and move football of the season. What advice/tips would you give to young, up and coming footballer? Try not to get too involved in the game and shout at the kids, this, however is usually impossible and before you know it you will be screaming and kicking every ball - it’s addictive and great fun, get involved and enjoy the ride.
Contact details: Danny Dale 07912 178198 Krystyan Gordon 07816 325550 Training times and details: Training times and details: Friday 7 till 8 Cardinal Langley, Middleton. Page | 2
Results at a glance: Pennine Juniors Under 9’s Blacks 2012 / 2013 Season Date
Home
08/09/12
4
Pennine Blacks
15/09/12
Chadderton Park Griffins Pennine Blacks
1
22/09/12
Woodbank Reds
29/09/12 06/10/12
13/10/12 20/10/12 03/11/12
Away
Scorers
MOM
2
Sam Howarth, OG
2
George Pierce-Hatzar
4
Littleborough Juniors Blues Pennine Juniors Black
Jake Gretton Charlie Griffin Whole team
Pennine Juniors Black Pennine Juniors Black Pennine Juniors Black
0
Roach Dynamos
2
NR
Bridge eagles
NR
0
Walshaw Sports Aces
8
Pennine Junior Black Pennine Juniors Black
0
Rossendale Valley Pumas Bridge FC Hawk
4
2
Goal scorers
Sam Howarth George Pierce-Hatzar Oliver Mcdonald Harry Walsh
0
2
Alex Johnson Harry Walsh Harry Walsh Mangr Jake Gretton coach Game not played bridge not able to raise a team George PierceHatzar, Evan Higginbottom Whole team Oliver Mcdonald Harry Walsh
Managers Man Of The Match
1 1 1 1
Alex Johnson Jake Gretton Harry Walsh Evan Higginbottom Whole team
Jake Gretton-Mangr Jozef Gordon-Coach
Coaches Man of the Match
1 2 1 1 2
Harry Walsh Charile Griffin Jake Gretton George Pierce-Hatzar Whole team Jozef Gordon
1 1 1 1 2 1
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Latest Match report: 03.11.12 Pennine Blacks v Bridge FC Hawk Man of the match for myself (standing in for Danny) Jake Gretton. Pete Walsh also helped out and his m.o.m was Jozef Gordon. Speaking with Bridge manager before the game he said that he did not want to be in this league either similar to us we were put in due to our previous years performances which technically is ok but we are both teams rebuilding after losing players. He told me that he had taken some of the guys from the other team, which has now folded unfortunately. We had fun at the start as only 7 had turned up for the game for us so was getting a little worried Sam Howarth had overnight sickness so was unable to come. Charlie Griffin was still away and George Pierce-Hatzar was in the car park minus his boots!!!! Mad dash for dad home. Luckily I had George down for sub 1st so worked out ok!!! We started with Alex and Evan at the back as usual with Ethan Jozef Harry and Oliver playing a four man midfield. (New strategy)‌ We set off like a house on fire all over Bridge as against Rossendale boys were up for this by the looks of things!!! They had a friendly previous week against top of the table Cheetham Hill and did extremely well. Think this had cheered the boys up as they started with some lovely one touch quick passing from defence into midfield.. Mid-way through the 1st half we got a throw in in line with penalty box. Jozef launched a huge ball into the box for Oliver to nod straight in!! I nearly fell over ball bag in delight, thought about a pull top overhead run onto pitch but stopped myself!!! We had several long throw ins from Jozef who was up for the game and one such throw in produced another goal for Harry Walsh to finish with skill into bottom corner 2 nil. Really had to resist the urge for pitch invasion!! Just before the end against the run of play to say the least their best player popped up from a set piece to slot one in before half time. Jake had a few balls to pick up and his kicking has improved. Half time did not know what had hit me not used to giving a team chat with us in the lead‌ Bags of encouragement dished out and warned them that they were going to come at us with everything for this local Derby!!! 2nd half started took Jozef off who was not impressed with his Dad for this!!! As the saying goes game of two halves went to form in comparison to 1st half we were getting pummelled with attack after attack Jake having to pull of some superb saves to keep us in it but Page | 4
eventually we conceded the equalizer. Devastated to say the least wanted to sink to ground and cry well maybe not cry… We were lucky to stave off attack after attack and struggled to get out in attack we seemed to be sitting to deep!!! Eventually the final whistle blew and we had our 1st game where we had NOT LOST!!!!!! WELL DONE to you all boys soooooooo proud of you today Danny was in touch throughout the game getting updates from his wife watching!!!! We can only get better boys keep up the hard work. We will put in even more tactical changes I’m sure we can improve and get our 1st WIN!!!! Cup game against Roach Dynomos Black is our next game and look forward to hopefully being a CUP run team!!!! Special thanks again to Colin Johnson Alex’s dad for refereeing game as usual to a high standard… 20.10.12 Pennine Blacks v Rossendale Valley Pumas Man of the match for Coach and Manager: Whole Team. Speaking with Rossendale manager before match he had lost two players to Bury Academy. His best player is at Man Utd but won’t sign up wants to play Saturday for his dad’s team!! Again, we could tell the difference in his skill levels. Our boys were really up for this game from the kick off. Determined tackles going in from the off from every single player and for the first 10 – 15 minutes we were actually dominating the game!! All over the pitch, we were bossing it. Eventually though Rossendale broke us down skipping past 3 players they got their first goal which was disappointing as they had worked so hard. Another goal quickly followed just before half time. The boys came off to raptures of applause from Danny and me with both of us telling them to hold heads up high as they were playing the best football to date and we were proud of them! Evan and Alex again held well in defence with help from the midfield trio of Jozef Oliver and Sam (rotating with Harry and Ethan). We actually passed the ball really well with Ethan and Charlie linking up with Oliver, Jozef, and Sam all interchanging. Losing the ball they all were determined to get back and help out in defence excellent! We shortly lost another two goals to make it 4 nil but we were so impressed with the boys after the game they all deserved a pat on the back. Parents seemed to agree we were improving every week just need a win to boost our confidence. Jake as ever pulled off some superb saves to keep the score down as usual.. Well done boys this weak was a vast improvement putting into practice training tackling harder and trying to break out on attack. We made it very difficult for the opposition to get through! Page | 5
13.10.12 Pennine Blacks v Walshaw Sports Aces We were up against another tough outfit this week in Walshaw Sports Aces with a record of won 4 drawn 1 lost 1. We knew that our boys were in for an extremely hard morning! It started out in first half that it was apparent Walshaw had an outstanding player supported by other quality players who were fast attacking outfit with lots of skill and pace. They were a well drilled organised team as last week team Roach if not better! The one outstanding player we found out was at Burnley academy but released (How we don’t know!) his throw ins were Rory Delap like from half way line into our box!! His corners were Tevez like whipped in with pace and precision into penalty area and they soon scored their first goal from a corner and if memory serves me correctly the first halves 5 goals were all scored from corners!!! There seemed to be wave after wave of attacks against us and we were struggling to break out of own half. Some excellent saves from Jake Gretton as usual in the net kept the half time score below double figures we were shell shocked! Harry Walsh and Evan Higginbottom were being worked hard in defence with others having to track back to help out and try and stem the flow of relentless attacks and corners! We put on Oliver Mcdonald and Alex Johnson half way through 1st half which did not seem to stem the flow of attacks. Some great tackles were going in but loose ball always seemed to drop to one of the opposition players! We had one glaring opportunity to score after Harry Walsh and George Pierce-Hatzar put a couple of passes together to see Oliver Mcdonald put a relatively easy shot way over the bar but at least it was an attack on their goal!! Half time saw Manager and coach trying to motivate the boys and trying another tactical change. The boys as in previous weeks did not seem to let their heads go down which we are worried about after no wins this season and loosing heavily. 2nd half saw all the boys work their socks off trying to get some good tackles in and win possession for us in central midfield area. Their best player reluctantly went into their goal keeping position with a few choice remarks to his dad for that one!!! We then started to play a little better with some great individual skill from George Pierce-Hatzar nutmegged a player and got up the wing also with a deft turn tight to touchline to lose a player. The game was now evenly matched and we were spending more time in their half so opposing manager took the best player back out of net to boo’s from myself and Danny!! We got a corner midway through 2nd half and Danny shouted for Jake our goalkeeper to get up into their box with everyone in our team in the penalty box! Corner came in and it went out off one of their players for another corner but Jake was running back to our net so Danny shouted him back he did not know what to do go or stay it was comical! Evan Higginbottom again excelled himself in defence with some good tracking back and strong tackles he had Page | 6
probably the most physical opponent they had up against him did us proud as always. Charlie Griffin, Oliver Mcdonald, Harry Walsh, Jozef Gordon all put in good shift with high work rates along with Ethan Dale who was injured in the 2nd half. Walshaw unfortunately stuck another 3 past us in the 2nd half to make it a resounding eight nil loss! Man of the match for Manager Evan Higginbottom for his work rate and tackling. For the coach will have to give it to George Pierce-Hatzar for some superb skill to get past players in tight situations! Well done boys this was a lesson today in how to play the game of football at pace and keep the ball Keep up the hard work we are trying to develop every game. Danny requested into the league to move us down a league which at the moment has been denied but will be reviewed again on request at a later date. We do not want to see the boys down hearted and will do whatever it takes to boost their confidence and keep those chins up (and the other chins for me and Danny)‌.
Previous match reports: 29.09.12 Pennine Blacks v Roach Dynamos We were up against a tough outfit this week they had a good start to their season narrowly beaten by one of the best teams in the league Rossendale in first game. Followed by a big 9v4 win in their 2nd match against Bridge Eagles. With a good draw in their 3rd match against Walshaw who are always a tough outfit! So we were worried that our boys might be in for a hard morning! It started out in first half as we thought Roach are a good attacking well drilled organised team with several players physicality shining through from the start.. There seemed to be wave after wave of attacks against us and we were holding out reasonably well with a couple firing wide and some excellent saves from Jake Gretton as usual in the net! Alex Johnson and Evan Higginbottom were being worked hard in defence by a fast team who passed the ball well. Ethan Dale and Jozef Gordon with Sam Howarth in midfield had a lot of tracking back to do which then left Charlie Griffin isolated up front when we eventually got the ball we quickly seemed to lose it again!!! Then the inevitable happened they managed to score with a good move and excellent finish to put them 1 up half way through 1st half.. We did have a few attacks but again the boys were running straight into defenders who easily took the ball off them when an easy pass was on!!! (Training will be again on passing and positional play says the coach and manager during 1st half!). Roach then scored a 2nd goal before half time again well worked move quick passes through our midfield with tackles being unfortunately missed, cut through us and scored!!!
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Half time saw Manager and coach trying to give some direction on how we needed to tackle with more conviction and easy passes into attacking areas of the field. Again as previous weeks none of the boys heads went down which was good to see showing these boys have team spirit and belief in themselves. 2nd half saw Harry Walsh work his socks off trying to get some good tackles in and win possession for us in central midfield area. He worked tirelessly to make defensive runs and tackles and runs up field to try and support our attacks. We had one goal scoring opportunity from a corner which unfortunately hit Harry Walsh not on head where we were expecting him but on the arm for a clear Maradona style attempt on goal! Whistle blew and cannot recall if it was referee or one of their players saying it’s not Basketball!!! We were under constant pressure during the 2nd half but the boys held out well defending corners well, blocking shots and thoroughly working hard trying to break out into attack but running into stiff defending and unfortunately to say not looking for that easy pass to get us up field into attacking half. Overall though against a tough outfit we did extremely well holding them to a 2 v 0 score line so we were not over run by them but they were clearly more well drilled in passing and moving ball rather than trying to run and beat the man!! Man of the match for Manager Harry Walsh for his work rate and tackling. For the coach again will have to give it to Jake Gretton for some superb saves to keep the score respectable! Well done boys keep up the hard work we are developing every game. We are still finding best positions for all the lads and developing each and every one of them to make improvements not only too individual skills but as a team as a whole. Would like to mention one moment I observed of Evan Higginbottom running across the pitch to challenge an attack down the wing in defence, he glanced over his shoulder to see where the other attacker was running into.. Showing that he is reading game a lot better, last year Even would never have done this so well done to him. The rest of the team are all improving hopefully the Mums and Dads on the touchline can see this and be patient with Danny and myself, to get these boys whipped into shape and start to hopefully make in roads into this league sooner rather than later.. Training again will be focusing on tackling and passing the ball and positional awareness.
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22.09.12 Woodbank Reds v Pennine Blacks We had a phone call prior to game to ask us if they could play an ex academy player they were in process of signing which we agreed too. If only we knew!! We wanted to build on last week’s great performance with the narrow loss to Littleborough. We tried a new formation of Jozef Gordon up front and stayed with newly found position of defender for Alex Johnson with Charlie Griffin and Harry Walsh. George Pierce-Hatzar and Sam Howarth in midfield. With Evan Higginbottom and Ethan Dale rotating in midfield. The team looked a lot better going forward but Jozef was clearly lost in new position and his head went down by half time after two quick attacks from Woodbank which left us 2 nil down by half time. Sloppy defending and a good strike from the ex academy player left us with our heads in our hands on the touchline at how easy he went past two then third player before hitting a sweet goal which Jake our keeper had no chance of saving. At half time we had some choice words with the lads about our lack of tackling and control in possession of the ball. 2nd Half 2nd half went a lot better than the first with some excellent defending by Alex Johnson sweeping up and tackling hard to keep Woodbank out. We started to make some good progress winning successive corners for us one of which the ball went clearly over the line but was not given. Woodbank then scored another but as last week our heads did not go down and our quick breaking attacking play needed an easy pass when we were three on one situations getting tackled and losing ball to the ONE defender. Control let some of our boys down today but overall we are improving match by match just need that elusive win to boost the boys confidence. By far the man of the match was Alex Johnson for the Manager and coach’s man of match was Harry Walsh for work rate. Evan Higginbottom showed determination after getting caught with a stray boot on knee to carry on. Also mentions to Charlie Griffin for some superb corners whipped into the box. Well done boys keep it up!!!! Funny moment at end of match with boys all gathered round for end of match debrief.. Talking about the disallowed goal Jake the keeper said “I could see it was over the line from where I was ref must be blind”. Myself and Danny could not stop laughing!!! Training this week will be fitness, possession and positional play!!!!
15.09.12 Pennine Blacks v Littleborough Juniors Blues. The boys had worked hard in training this week and looked up for the game. Littleborough started strong and it looked like we were going to get over run by another team second week running..! We started to make tackles we were missing week before looking sharper in defence and trying to pass our way out of trouble.... We conceded an early goal from a corner which Jake Greatton was unlucky not to save... The match was evenly balanced both Page | 9
coaching teams agreed that both teams were playing well. We got a throw in in line with 18 yard line and Jozef Gordon launched a throw in deep into the box which George PierceHatzar thumped into the back of the net with a well-directed header. Evan Higginbottom was a rock at the back with Harry Walsh making vital tackles and interceptions. 1 . 1 Half time score. 2nd half started the same with Littleborough pressing us back but we kept on with some good persistent tackling breaking out well with some excellent passing from Ethan Dale, Sam Howarth and good wing play from Alex Johnson which set up two great opportunities for Ethan Dale to push one past the post and Alex Johnson shot high and wide. Coach and Manager were extremely proud of the way the boys have responded to our training sessions and bonding as a team. Unfortunately Litttleborough got a free kick outside the box and our instructions for setting up to defend were only half done. The two boys on each post were set up but no wall... the ball was smashed toward goal in between player on post and keeper and they left it to each other leading to no one going for it and straight into back of the net... Valuable lessons learnt, never to give away free kicks in our half and to set up a WALL! Overall though we had great performances from all the boys and a special mention to Sam Howarth for turning up ill as we would have had no subs due to one player being away. Man of the match went to the whole team for a great team effort and performance. Giving Coach and Manager hope for improving on this performance to gain our first win.
08.09.12 Pennine Blacks v Chadderton Park Griffins First competitive league match against Chadderton Park Griffins for the newly formed Pennine Black team with three new faces. Right from the kick off there were signs that this opposition had two quality players which later turned out were on the verge of signing for academies and that they were a team that had well drilled positional play and passed the ball well. Pennine initially struggled to even get out of own half. Pinned back and struggling with a new formation that we had tried to implement in friendlies. We soon conceded first goal followed by a string of excellent saves but conceded another in quick succession. Couple of subs after ten minutes did not seem to halt the flow of their play we had not woken up yet!!!! We conceded another goal shortly before half time. 2nd half We changed the formation for 2nd half and got the boys stoked up for a fight back few heads were down. The start of the 2nd half seemed to be going the way of the first half but a good run and a clear shooting opportunity boosted the boys but unfortunately hit the side netting. Hands on heads for the side-lines!!! We then got a throw in deep inside their half and a deflection off a defender trickled past the keeper over the line!! This lifted the boys spirits and soon we were making headway into their half more freely. Few good runs from Harry Walsh but ran into stiff defending. George Ethan made Page | 10
excellent runs into space and awaiting passes to put them through on goal but good defending kept thwarting the chances. Chadderton then scored another. This time heads did not go down and they fought back for a late goal from Sam Howarth. Overall it was a big eye opener for the boys at the high standard required in this very competitive league and a lot for the coach and manager to reflect on and work on hard in training. Man of the match Manager MOM: Jake Goal keeper for outstanding saves to keep score respectable. Coach MOM: Charlie for his willingness to change positions and his work rate. Managers summary: Disappointing first game but took some positives from 2nd half. Need to work on Fitness, Passing, Tackling, and positional play in training. Manager and coach and players have a lot of work ahead but we will be up for the challenge and get the boys ready for next game. A lot of teams in this league are rebuilding after losing some players to Academies. Chadderton manager said after the game if he loses the two players in his team then their team will be a lot weaker!!! Wish we'd played them later in the season!!!!
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