Match reports

Wymondley Park Wanderers U16s came into this 2^nd Round County Cup game looking for improvements, after last week’s heavy defeat to the league leaders. The game kicked off in the rain on a very muddy pitch, with Wymondley only able to field 11 players plus their injured striker Gabriel (as an emergency substitute).
Opening exchanges amounted to a punched clearance and long range shot easily collected by Tom in the Wymondley goal, while Wymondley were unable to create any clear-cut chances at the other end.
After 10 minutes Hoddesdon broke down the Wymondley right and a well hit cross behind the Wymondley defence was well finished to make it 1-0 to Hoddesdon. Five minutes later a free kick floated in from the Wymondley left, again eluded the defence and was tucked away to make it 2-0 to Hoddesdon.
More pressure from Hoddesdon and a scrambled clearance followed by a Hoddesdon free kick which sailed wide for a goal kick. It was 20 minutes in before Wymondley created their first decent chance, after good interplay between George and Ben through the middle, George fired a shot straight at the Hoddesdon keeper who gathered comfortably.
It was then all Hoddesdon again as Tom saved a long range effort, before another shot struck the post, was half cleared and then fired back in to make it 3-0 to Hoddesdon, after 26 mins.
Wymondley were struggling to maintain any possession and allowed Hoddesdon too much time and space down the flanks. Another cross from the Wymondley left was met by a Hoddesdon head, 4-0. A brief respite as George passed to Ben down the right, Ben shot wide.
Yet another Hoddesdon cross in from the left, Wymondley couldn’t get it properly away and it’s fired in to make it 5-0 to Hoddesdon after 33 mins. Three minutes later another well struck effort strikes James and is deflected past a despairing Tom to make it 6-0.
Wymondley win a free kick in the Hoddesdon half, Ali takes it, lifts it over the Hoddesdon defence, it’s collected by Jack in the box, with his back to goal and under pressure from the keeper he controls it and with a deft overhead kick, lobs the keeper to make it 6-1. Three more saves from Tom in the Wymondley goal before the half time whistle is blown.
A daring half time change sees manager Mark Beeson bringing on centre-forward Gabriel, for Sam in defence.
The second half kicks off with no real change to the pattern with Tom in the Wymondley goal forced into a couple of early saves, whilst the best Wymondley can muster is a cross from Ben which is comfortably cleared. More pressure from Hoddesdon and their man goes to ground under pressure from George, Penalty to Hoddesdon, tucked in the corner, no chance for the goalie, 7-1 to Hoddesdon after 49 mins.
Moments later, another cross from the left is headed home to make it 8-1, before Ben is awarded a penalty at the other end after being held. Gabriel makes no mistake with the spot kick, which makes it 8-2 after 52 mins.
A heavy tackle by Carl is punished with a yellow card, before Ashley is injured and replaced by Sam after 57 mins. A Hoddesdon corner from the left sails over Ali and is headed in, 9-2.
Wymondley move the ball up to Gabriel who, surprised to find himself onside, sends a looping shot over the keeper from 25 yards to make it 9-3 (64 mins).
Three more goals from Hoddesdon, all from crosses, complete the rout; the game finishes 12-3, with goalie Tom nursing a bruised chest from a high challenge in the dying seconds.

Hoddesdon 12 - 3 WPFC

The WPFC U15s Firesharks took on Harvesters in the third round of the County Cup. After being bumped off our home pitch due to it looking like Glastonbury on a bad day – the consequence of Bluehearts’ Fireworks being held on it...no side gained the advantage in this tie as we played for the first time at St Johns.

Firesharks overran Harvesters today and 10-0 could have been an even bigger margin. We somehow continue to put together good performances despite only having 11 to use each match. A 4-0 lead at half time and the game in the bag could have meant two things second half, either a gung-ho “I wanna score next” mentality leading to scrappy football , or, staying focussed and using it to test out our accuracy and match play. I am delighted to say that it was the latter following a half time talk and the opportunity to try a formation I rarely use in league matches.

I was pleased and proud watching the display in the second half. If only we had the space to play like that every week, intelligent football, sweet crossfield passing and clever wing play. Our defenders also played their part with some excellent distribution and covering defending. Eddie had little trouble but dealt with what came his way deftly.

A really good win for Firesharks, we salute Harvesters for their spirit and sporting attitude, their willingness to keep going as the score mounted was admirable. Abbotts Youth next up....here we go.

Firesharks 10 - 0 Harvesters 

Wymondley Park’s U16 Wanderers were looking for improvements in teamwork for their visit to top of the table Fairlands Youth. It is a tough month with league games also against sixth placed Sawbridgeworth Town and fourth placed Stotfold Juniors, as well as a County Cup tie against Hoddesdon Town.
Fairlands applied early pressure but it didn’t take long for Wymondley to push back and Phil could have scored when he went one-on-one with the keeper. But Fairlands seized control of the midfield with Wymondley slow to close them down.
The home team drew first blood with an attack down the left, the ball crossed in and tapped home on the 20 minute mark.
Wymondley continued to struggle to retain possession and Fairlands pressed for a second, And it comes when they answer a Wymondley free kick with a long ball that bounced over a stranded Ali in central defence and was tucked in by Fairlands on 27 minutes.
But the visitors keep working. Gabriel has a shot saved and Ben has another cleared off the line.It was end-to-end stuff now. A series of Fairland free kicks was repelled only for the home team score from a speculative long-range shot on 39 minutes.
The half-time didn’t really reflect the game, but Fairlands were winning the midfield battle and their goalie was very solid.
Within a minute of the resumption some neat work down the left between Phil, Khush and Gabriel paid off, Given a yard of space, Gabriel scored from the edge of the box That made it 3-1 to Fairlands (41 mins).
But it only took Fairlands five minutes to restore a three goal lead from a free kick floated over and headed in. It got worse on 49 minutes with another goal conceded.
A neat exchange between Gabriel and Khush from the kick-off wins Wymondley a free kick 25 yards out just left of centre. Gabriel takes it; he shoots, saved by the goalie. A minute later Phil is through on goal, his first touch lets him down and the goalie pounces. Again it’s Wymondley on the attack Khush finds Gabriel, another shot saved, it falls to Phil who tucks it into the empty net, 5-2 to Fairlands (51 mins). Another free kick, another goal conceded on 57 minutes.
And it got worse with a Route 1 just two minutes later. And only a minute after that Gabriel grabbed a consolation goal for the visitors when they again made the mistake of leaving him space.
The result leaves Wymondley Park Wanderers in sixth place in the league, 13 points behind the league leaders, with three games in-hand.

 Fairlands 7 – 3 WPFC Wanderers

Fresh from a satisfying 4-2 league victory over promoted rivals Dunton, WPFC U16s Wanderers approached the first of three successive away games with a warning from manager Mark Beeson ringing in their ears, not to “underestimate the (second division) opposition”.

The winners would look forward to a second round tie away to either Stevenage Colts Greens or BSFC Rovers, both in the bottom half of RCYFL Div 2.

In a game which saw Wymondley enjoy the lion’s share of possession and numerous goalscoring chances, Roebuck held out, snatching a late winner on the break, to clinch a hard-fought 3-2 win.

Roebuck opened the scoring after 15 minutes, before Wymondley’s top-scorer Gabriel twice struck from distance (once with each foot), within five minutes, to give WPFC a 2-1 lead. But with the clock running down to half-time, Roebuck scored again to make it 2-2 at the interval.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw both sides enjoying equal shares of possession, before Wymondley started to dominate.

A series of Wymondley chances came and went, without the crucial third goal. The best chance fell to Ben, who received the ball from Gabriel on the right, and somehow got himself tangled in his own feet and was unable finish from inside the six yard box, just when a goal had seemed inevitable.

Hard work and impressive skills down the left side from Jack too often ended in frustration when he was repeatedly crowded off the ball by a committed Roebuck defence before he was able to get the pass or shot away.

Wymondley continued to exert pressure and were nearly rewarded when Gabriel had a stunning goal-bound overhead kick cleared off the line. Just a matter of time you felt, although Roebuck continued to look dangerous on the break and with the Wymondley’s midfield committing themselves forward, big gaps were opening up in the middle of the pitch.

Sure enough, an intercepted pass from the hard-working Jordan (Be) in midfield and suddenly Roebuck were bearing down on an exposed Wymondley defence, a cross into the box, a header, GOAL! 3-2 to Roebuck.

It was a blow from which Wymondley wouldn’t recover and the players left the field clearly frustrated and disappointed that they hadn’t been able to turn their dominance into victory.

In his post-match team talk, Wymondley manager Mark Beeson suggested that despite good individual performances from Gabriel (up front), Jack (midfield) and Ali (defence), the players hadn’t really got their teamwork going and it had seemed that the opposition ‘wanted it’ more. For the second game running, the Man of the Match Award went to Jack.

Roebuck U16 Wanderers 3 – 2 WPFC U16 Wanderers

The WPFC Under-14s have had a rough old start to the season, hampered by injuries from day one and playing games with less than a full team on the field.

So, it was good to get a first win of the season under the belt. Not the prettiest of games, not the most confident of games and certainly the playing was not as good as in one or two earlier matches. But we got the win courtesy of a blinding long distance free kick from Craig, a nifty lob from Marley and a sweet strike from Jayden.

LGCE Yellows got one back from a corner – their corner taker was excellent – and another late on when WPFC’s defence looked to have lost concentration.

While Wymondley should have been more decisive in the tackle and looked a little lightweight in central midfield for some of the time, there were plenty of positives. The players coming back from injury did well and will improve as they regain match fitness. There were some nice through balls – latch on to those and stay onside and we’ll be scoring more.

Onwards and upwards.

WPFC 3 – 2 LGCE Yellows

October 3

WPFC U15 Firesharks versus Bengeo Tigers in the second round of the County Cup brought a decent game of football and 8 goals, played in good spirit at Lucas Lane. We saw some old faces that it was good to meet again from our time in the MHRM league - and Bengeo certainly brought this game back to life after trailing 4-0 at one point.