Bourne Deeping U16 Boys (4) vs (0) St Neots

Bourne Deeping U16 Boys built on the success of their win against Norwich City with another win today again St Neots. That's two out of two wins and two clean sheets in the first round regional pool of the Clubs U16 National Championships. It was a classic tale of two halves. The first half was scrappy and not pretty to watch. Our boys had shape but lacked linking play between them, with too many solo runs and poor passes not reaching the intended player. That said, they were still the better team and Rafa opened the scoring with a flick high into the back of the net after feinting the turn and drawing the keeper off his line. St Neots then had a brief spell of pressing our defensive line but with very little success except one stinging shot that drew an excellent save from Will - had he not made the save, it might have changed the complexion of the game. Our boys then pressed again and Rafa followed up his first goal with a simple push past the keeper late into the half after a driving run into the D.

The boys knew they'd had a difficult first half and you've never seen a team go into the half time break looking so unhappy with themselves at 2-0 up! Half time was productive and the boys had the opportunity to talk through what was not working for them and how they might improve their play. It worked and a very different team came out for the second half. They dominated St Neots with much simpler linking play and a high press, they had most of the possession and maintained pressure on the St Neots' goal throughout the half. Ben B finally broke through with a tap-in after an onslaught of pressure in the St Neots' D and Charlie put the game to bed with a fourth goal after a driving run into the D and around the keeper.

And not just to mention the scorers, our defensive line of Roddy, Ben S and Joe were excellent today, very few balls got through them and our D was rarely under threat. As the game progressed, it was their solidity that allowed our midfield to press high and put St Neots under so much pressure. For me, they were my collective MOM.

Our play in the second half bore more resemblance to the win against Norwich and the challenge going forward is to consistently deliver that level of play for the full 70 minutes. For now though, well done our boys and enjoy 2 out of 2 going into the Christmas break!

Players' MOM: Roddy