The Courier

Crescent took all of their Year 5 and 6 boys to The Croft Prep School - a new school on the fixture calendar but it was nice to see an old face in Mr Ferris, formerly of Crackley Hall.

The 'A' team showed their usual energetic approach to the game from the off.  Early on, Matthew Browne stole the ball on the half way line and broke on the defence.  His square pass into the area fell to the feet of Ethan Capelett, who fired into the goal, via the goalkeeper.  Crescent then defended well with Daniel Pinks always looking comfortable, Oliver Bell and Dylan Hopkins working hard to close down in the wide areas and Kyle Kerfoot-Bale looking completely at ease in his first match for the U11 'A' team. 

However, a poorly defended corner allowed The Croft to equalise before some over expansive passing in dangerous areas led to the hosts taking the lead. Crescent took some time to regain their composure and Fin Calder tried to hold the ball up front to allow the visitors to create some pressure. Towards the end of the half, Crescent won a corner.  Browne’s cross caused some strife and was turned into the net by an unfortunate defender.  That concluded the scoring. 

In the second half, The Croft were reduced to long range shots which Chris Gibson dealt with comfortably and Connor Smith added to the defensive strength.  Following good work from Capelett, he attempted to return the favour for Browne as he rolled him in.  Browne looked certain to score but a good save by the goalkeeper kept the scores level.

The 'B' team showed more energy in their match, helped by the new signing of Eddie Arkesden who worked really hard.  The Croft had the better of the play but goalkeepers Samuel Lan and Roman Thearia and defenders Jamie Capelett and Vignesh Sadasivan scrambled well to shut them out.  Crescent grew into the game and Thomas Brinklow scored what proved to be the winning goal.

The 'C' team came up against a strong opponent and weren’t able to keep the goals out in the same way that the 'A' and 'B' team could.  Anand Desai and Sam Watson worked hard and Rayan Usman tackled well.  However, it finished 8-0 to The Croft. One can learn a lot from a strong opponent, though and hopefully the boys are stronger for it.

Well done everyone