During a very wet and windy weekend, Timsbury’s Under-11’s team faced Purnell, with a resounding win and even a close pitch invasion from a local sheep!
Just before the match started, we had an interruption from our local sheep to say hello, but sadly the parents shooed him away.
The match started, and the Purnell players came charging at Timsbury, racing for the ball. Timsbury had soon broken the Purnell defence, as Finley was on the counter-attack and managed to slide it to the back of the net, and the crowd roared!
After the first goal, Timsbury kept up the attack, with Myles making a strong run on the Purnell goal, but was cleared by a great tackle by a Purnell defender. I supplied a fantastic cross into the box, with a goal just missed, thanks to another quick save by the Purnell keeper.
As the game went on, Purnell made several cracking efforts, but it wasn’t quite enough. Purnell accelerated up the pitch and broke through, but Callum was there to stop the Purnell striker from scoring.
On the counter-attack, Timsbury’s number sixteen, Jack, broke through and made an amazing strike into the back of the net.
Next, Purnell won the ball in Timsbury’s half, and again, managed to slot through the defensive line, but Owen was there to clear it away.
Timsbury were again pushing and pressuring Purnell’s defensive line and, out of nowhere, Finley came flying at the defence and shot, but the Purnell goalkeeper leapt like a cheetah and just got his hands on it. After an equal battle, Finley tested the keeper, but resulted in delivery to the keeper’s hands.
Oscar, one of Timsbury’s defenders, launched the ball up the pitch to winger, Fabian, and it almost resulted in another goal, if Purnell’s keeper wasn’t a leaping cheetah! With more pressure coming from Timsbury, the keeper once again worked with passion to try and save all of the shots being fired in.
Another attacking situation in Purnell’s half resulted in Owen playing a sweet ball over the top to Jack, and he smashed it into the top of the net.
After this goal, Timsbury’s defence got confused in their own box, and one of the Purnell attackers snuck in and drilled the ball into the back of the net.
For the second half, Timsbury kicked off, and they were underway in seconds as Jack ran down the line, crossed it into Fabian and scored, but sadly the lineman’s flag went up.
As Timsbury pushed up into Purnell’s half, Owen Dix played through to Finley, and he lobbed the goaly like nothing was there.
Timsbury and Purnell were still battling until another shot came through from Owen, and he hit the bar so hard that the goalkeeper almost fell over himself!
I then whipped a lovely ball into the box, but a Purnell attacker controlled it and stormed up the pitch. However, Owen wasn’t having any of it, and eventually kicked it out of play.
Timsbury once again were pressuring Purnell’s midfield, and eventually, Finley Coombs slotted it through to Lewis Maggs, who finished the job.
At the 85th minute, Owen charged in a beautiful ball, but sadly missed. After a difficult tackle in the box by a Purnell defender, Billy scored the eighth goal for Timsbury.
Timsbury’s Manager, Adam Bean, said: “I was very happy with our performance, we pressed strong from kick-off. Purnell defended well, but Timsbury’s attack was too strong at times, going 3–0 up at half-time.”
A well-deserved win from Timsbury, but a great game overall from both teams.
George, Timsbury U11s
Editor: Special thanks to George, for his wonderful report!