One Touch Football 16+ Academy V Lincoln City FC Youth Team
On Wednesday 29th March our selected players met at Oakham Utd Football Club for the Academy’s first-ever competitive match. There was a feeling of nerves and excitement from the 34 players that were selected.
Period 1 – Peterborough 16+ Academy V Lincoln City
Lincoln City FC kicked off and played the ball back to their goalkeeper who’s first touch was a little heavy and found himself fouling our centre forward, leaving the referee with no decision but to award a penalty. Up steps our center forward with no hesitation slots the ball into the bottom corner. A great start!
It was safe to say that Lincoln City were now going to pile on the pressure in which they did, as they moved the ball quickly playing off one or two touches. This proved difficult to defend against as it caused OTF (Peterborough Academy) to work extremely hard to gain possession back.
After 17 minutes Lincoln City equalized as OTF found themselves at the back and a ball through two players found their centre forward one-on-one with our goalkeeper, in which he slotted into the bottom corner.
Shortly after Lincoln City were forced to clear their lines after a spell of intense pressure form OTF. The Lincoln pass dropped just behind the defensive line and the Lincoln City centre forward managed to win his team a corner. The delivery of the corner was exceptional and the finish was even better with an overhead bicycle kick flying into the roof of the net! 2-1 to Lincoln.
Again OTF put on the pressure and had a number of chances in front of the Lincoln City goal but lacked a little bit of composure when it mattered most.
On the half hour Lincoln City were defending in their own box due to the continuous pressure from OTF. This left OTF defending 2v2 at the back. Lincoln City played it forward leaving a head-to-head race between the defender and the centre forward in which saw the rapid centre forward sneak it and poke it home
for 3-1.
Half Time saw the change of academies with Oakham playing the second half.
Period 2 – Oakham Academy V Lincoln City
With OTF having kick off they played a different style of play, having just witnessed the first half. They went with a possession plan to make it hard for Lincoln City to win the ball back. This saw a number of passes from OTF without Lincoln City even getting close to the ball.
On the 62 minute mark saw some great build-up play for a shot at goal which skimmed the post and bounced out into the goalkeeper’s hands.
OTF continued to push forward in numbers and on the left-hand side put a number of passes together where the ball was fizzed across the front of the goal for anyone to get on the end of the cross but no one was there to finish!
With OTF moving the ball quickly and showing a lot of fight and determination the period finished 0-0 which was a great achievement against a team of this quality.
Period 3 – OTF Oakham Academy V Peterborough Academy
This 20-minute period saw both Academies play each other. The tempo seemed to have been stepped up another level as all players were really keen to impress and take home the bragging rights.
After a couple of minutes a great piece of individual play from the left winger saw the Oakham defence open up ,for the winger to slot home leaving the goalkeeper no chance at all! 1-0 to Peterborough.
Straight from the kick off saw Oakham threaten at the other end with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper in which he pushed wide for a corner. The ball was slung into the box with hope for an Oakham player to get on the end but it was over hit, allowing the Peterborough side to counter attack. Out came the goalkeeper who was very brave and stopped Peterborough side going two up.
With five minutes left to play the game was very open and the ball was end-to-end with both sides threatening each others’ goal. The game finished 1-0 to Peterborough.